Local Election Results Are In

A future voter seems just a little distracted as mom fills her ballot Tuesday afternoon at the Mission Precinct polling place at Bayside Fire Hall. Voting was brisk, with nearly 1,000 ballots cast by early afternoon. Jay Barrett/KMXT photo
A future voter seems just a little distracted as mom fills her ballot Tuesday afternoon at the Mission Precinct polling place at Bayside Fire Hall. Voting was brisk, with nearly 1,000 ballots cast by early afternoon. Jay Barrett/KMXT photo

Kayla Desroches and Jay Barrett/KMXT

It is a close race for House District 32, which covers Kodiak, south Kachemak Bay, Cordova and Yakutat.

With 14 of 14 precincts reporting, incumbent Republican Louise Stutes leads with 2,239 of the 5,171 votes cast, which is about 43 percent. Independent Duncan Fields got 2,141 votes, which is about 41 percent. Democrat Brent Watkins received 782 votes or about 15 percent.

There were over 500 “absentee-in-person” ballots cast before the election, which were sent to the Division of Elections on a daily basis by the Kodiak Island Borough clerk’s office for counting.

In District 32 voter turnout was 41.2 percent.

For Senate District P, Republican Senator Gary Stevens ran essentially unopposed for re-election and won 9,461 out of 9,785 votes.

Stevens says he’s pleased.

“There was not an opponent, so that makes a little different election than most, but still I hope folks believe I’ve been doing a good job, and they’ve trusted me to do this for four more years. So, it’s really a privilege. It’s an honor to represent this district.”

He says one of his priorities moving forward is to maintain high quality education while reducing cost. He also has an eye on the committees he’d like to join.

“I really hope I can do Budget and Audit. Half of the members are the Senate, half are the House. All of the finances go through Budget and Audit. And then they also audit issues that need to be looked at and find out if we’re spending money in the proper ways, and so I’m looking forward to that. We’ll see if that turns out to be the case.”

Stevens also commented on President Elect Donald Trump.

“You know, I’m hoping the new administration will be pro-resources, pro-resource development. That is where Alaska is. And I think that bodes well for Alaska to have Donald Trump there in terms of making sure that we move ahead on gas and oil development as well as fisheries. We are a resource state and we really need to have this government pay attention to that.”

Donald Trump won about 52 percent of Alaskans’ votes.

For St. Paul, 34 of the 35 precincts have reported. So far, it’s safe to say Bryce Edgmon won House District 37 with about 58 percent of the vote. His challenger, William Weatherby, got about 41 percent of the votes.

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