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Quoted By:
https://www.newsweek.com/democrats-flip-mayors-seat-alaska-narrow-margin-1966704
Democrat Grier Hopkins clinched the Fairbanks North Star Borough mayoral seat in a razor-thin victory, flipping the post held by Republican Bruce Ward—who reached his term limit—in a region former President Donald Trump won by over 10 points in 2020.
Municipal elections in the central Alaskan borough, which encompasses the cities of Fairbanks and North Pole, took place on October 1, and borough officials have been tallying absentee ballots during the last few days. According to the borough's "unofficial results" posted Tuesday afternoon, of the 19,703 votes counted, Hopkins secured the victory by a margin of 154 votes.
Hopkins, former Alaska state representative who served from 2018 to 2022, edged out former Alaska State Senator John Bruce Coghill Jr. for the three-year term. Hopkins received 9,434 votes, or 48.41 percent of the total, while Coghill garnered 9,280 votes, or 47.62 percent. The margin of victory was less than 1 percent between the top two candidates.
A third-party hopeful, Robert Shields, won 705 votes, 3.62 percent of the vote, which was instrumental in swinging the election. Voter turnout was around 25 percent.
Hopkins told Newsweek in a statement Wednesday afternoon, "The victory was close, and very hard fought but also amicable. Both myself and John Coghill ran mostly positive campaigns about how to grow our community, create a strong economy and Improve local quality of life. The differences were between how we'd get there, and I will prioritize stronger funding of our schools. That community first approach allowed for cross over partisan voters to support me, as opposed to partisan fights and culture war issues."
Democrat Grier Hopkins clinched the Fairbanks North Star Borough mayoral seat in a razor-thin victory, flipping the post held by Republican Bruce Ward—who reached his term limit—in a region former President Donald Trump won by over 10 points in 2020.
Municipal elections in the central Alaskan borough, which encompasses the cities of Fairbanks and North Pole, took place on October 1, and borough officials have been tallying absentee ballots during the last few days. According to the borough's "unofficial results" posted Tuesday afternoon, of the 19,703 votes counted, Hopkins secured the victory by a margin of 154 votes.
Hopkins, former Alaska state representative who served from 2018 to 2022, edged out former Alaska State Senator John Bruce Coghill Jr. for the three-year term. Hopkins received 9,434 votes, or 48.41 percent of the total, while Coghill garnered 9,280 votes, or 47.62 percent. The margin of victory was less than 1 percent between the top two candidates.
A third-party hopeful, Robert Shields, won 705 votes, 3.62 percent of the vote, which was instrumental in swinging the election. Voter turnout was around 25 percent.
Hopkins told Newsweek in a statement Wednesday afternoon, "The victory was close, and very hard fought but also amicable. Both myself and John Coghill ran mostly positive campaigns about how to grow our community, create a strong economy and Improve local quality of life. The differences were between how we'd get there, and I will prioritize stronger funding of our schools. That community first approach allowed for cross over partisan voters to support me, as opposed to partisan fights and culture war issues."
