Unofficial election results suggest the City of Fairbanks will be seating a new mayor.
Incumbent David Pruhs conceded the race to his challenger, Mindy O’Neall, on Tuesday night. O’Neall is currently the presiding officer of the Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly. Her term expires this month.
Tuesday’s preliminary figures do not reflect all votes that have been cast, with absentee and question ballots still untallied. But Pruhs, sitting inside Bobby’s Downtown, a restaurant on Second Avenue in Fairbanks, said the race was decided. Asked directly if he was conceding, he answered yes.
“Mindy ran a very good race. I ran a good race. I ran a positive race, but the election results are in, and it’s over, so now I go back to being a full-time real estate broker,” he said.
Results from six of seven precincts within the City of Fairbanks had been reported at the time of Pruhs’ concession. A little less than 1,800 ballots had been cast for O’Neall, giving her an edge of more than 250 votes.
“I’m very happy with what I did over the last three years in the City of Fairbanks. Very, very happy,” Pruhs said. “However, I don’t get another three years, and that’s just the way it is.”
Pruhs congratulated O’Neall and wished her luck. He said, looking back, he’s most proud of the working relationship he formed with city councils during his term.
Just down Second Avenue in downtown Fairbanks, O’Neall celebrated the news minutes later inside Lavelle’s Taphouse. She said it all came as a pleasant surprise.
“I think that, you know, we anticipated having to wait for a week or so when the absentee ballots come through,” O’Neall said. “And we don’t have to do that tonight, so that was my surprise, and a pleasant one.”
O’Neall said she’s thankful for the competitive, but respectful, race. She said she and Pruhs are two people who have different ideas about how to approach the same problems, and that she’s ready to bring fresh perspectives into city hall.
“I’m excited to have conversations about how we collectively solve some of the issues that we’re facing, and I’m really looking forward to that,” O’Neall said.
By midnight on Tuesday, all precincts were reporting their results. The margin in the mayoral race remained about the same.
Other preliminary results
Unofficial results also came in Tuesday night for the other races in the Fairbanks North Star Borough.
Garrett Armstrong looks set to win the three-way battle for Assembly Seat C. He has more than 6,500 votes, or 45%. That’s compared to J.T. McComas-Roe’s 34% and Jeanne Olson’s 20%.
With 56% of ballots cast in favor of Patrick Roach as of Tuesday night, he’s on track to claim Assembly Seat I from incumbent Barbara Haney, who’s received about 43% of votes. Roach has about 8,200 votes to Haney’s roughly 6,300.
Incumbent Brett Rotermund is having little to no trouble in his bid for reelection to Seat B on the Assembly, despite a late write-in campaign launched by Allegory Smith. Rotermund was previously unopposed, and he claimed more than 75% of the vote as of Tuesday.
Candidates for Seat D on the school district’s board of education are separated by the finest margin among the borough races. They’re hovering close to 7,000 votes apiece, with Naomi Hewitt leading incumbent Melissa Burnett by about 130 votes. That’s 50% to 49%.
In the race for school board Seat C, Audra Hull appears in position to win, with a roughly 900-vote advantage over Sam Spencer. That translates to about 53% to 46%.
Incumbents for two Fairbanks City Council seats were ahead as of Tuesday. Crystal Tidwell ran unopposed for reelection to Seat D and is cruising to victory with almost 94% of the vote. With results showing 57% of ballots cast for Sue Sprinkle, she’s got a healthy lead of about 500 votes over her challenger for Seat C, Hannah Ekalook.
And in North Pole, four candidates are running for four open seats on the city council. Jordan Schuster is ahead with 134 votes, but he’s tailed closely by Sandra Rolfe and David Skipps, who are tied at 129. David Brandt is just behind, with 120.
Question and absentee ballots will be tallied next Tuesday, which is also the deadline for the borough canvass board to complete a new hand count audit. Election results will remain unofficial until certified by the respective legislative bodies of the borough and two cities.