With almost all votes counted, Bronson remains ahead in the Anchorage mayor’s race

Dave Bronson is ahead by 1,200 votes over opponent Forrest Dunbar in the race for Anchorage mayor, a new round of unofficial runoff election results posted Thursday shows.

Bronson had 45,847 total votes, or 50.66% of the vote on Thursday, while Dunbar had 44,647 votes, or 49.34% of the vote. About 90,627 ballots have been counted so far.

Dunbar was ahead on election night when the first preliminary count was released, but as more ballots have been counted, Bronson has held his lead since last Wednesday.

The newest round of preliminary results shows Bronson’s lead shrank by 21 votes Thursday. About 430 more ballots were included in Thursday’s count.

On Friday at 5 p.m., the election commission will hold its public session of canvass and then adopt a report on the results of the runoff election. That report then goes to the Anchorage Assembly.

The results are not official until certified by the Assembly. Certification of the runoff is scheduled for May 25.

Bronson has not yet declared victory, and Dunbar has not conceded.

Asked why Bronson has not claimed victory, campaign manager Brice Wilbanks said in an email, “Dave and the entire Bronson for Mayor coalition are honored by the strong support they received in the May 11th runoff and look forward to the Election Commission adopting its report.”

“From day one, this campaign has focused on ensuring the election process was fair, transparent and that everyone’s vote is counted correctly. We look forward to sharing more information in the coming days.”