Kodiak on the Winning Side of All Questions Save President

Jay Barrett/KMXT
After the General Election yesterday, not much will likely change in Kodiak, except there will be a new dock at Pier III at some point in the near future.
The Senate District R race saw incumbent Gary Stevens fend off a challenge by Cordova Democrat Robert Henrich. With all but one precinct reporting, Stevens received 5,702 votes, or 69 percent, while Henrich received 2,588 votes, or 31 percent. There were 33 write-in votes. Stevens has been the Senate president for four years, leading a bipartisan coalition majority. There is no longer a 10-10 tie between Republicans and Democrats in the Senate, and the coalition’s future and Stevens’ role in the majority may be up in the air.
House District 35 Representative Alan Austerman ran unopposed and will be returning to the Alaska State House, which maintained its Republican majority. Austerman was the Majority Leader the last two years, and may be in line to become Speaker of the House.
The statewide transportation bond question passed easily 57-to 43-percent. In that $400-million-plus bond is $15-million for construction of a new pier at the cargo dock. It won’t be the only improvement down there, as Horizon Lines has indicated it would buy a new, larger, cargo container crane.
District 35 voters, which in addition to the Kodiak Island Borough, now includes Tatitlek, Whittier, Cordova and Yakutat, gave 2,572 votes to Mitt Romney, and 2,018 to President Barack Obama.
Congressman Don Young received 3.070 votes, while Democratic challenger Sharon Cissna got 1,308.
The bond proposition won by a more than two-to-one margin, 2,970 to 1,389 votes.