District 6 has grown complicated, but Weddleton can pull it off
South Anchorage Assembly member John Weddleton is seeking a third term on the Anchorage Assembly. I think. His campaign Facebook page shares posts every few days on average, and his Twitter account is mainly barren, with the most recent tweet being made almost five years ago.
In 2016, Weddleton defeated Treg Taylor and Mark Schimscheimer in the three-way race for seat J, capturing 44.5% of the votes cast. Taylor took 39.77%, and Schimscheimer received 15.10%.
Weddleton is in another three-way race this year, but the dynamic is different.
In the 2020 presidential election, District 6 wound up rolling +4 Trump. In the Anchorage mayoral runoff election, the district swung further to the right resulting in Bronson winning the district by a margin of 9.5%. According to Robert Hockema of the AK Political Blog, Bronson's win was bolstered by Huffman-area conservatives who turned out support.
District 6 candidate Darin Colbry isn't a serious contender in April's election. According to his campaign disclosure report filed with APOC yesterday, Colbry has raised zilch in campaign contributions and doesn't even have a campaign page. He ran as a candidate in the 2018 Republican primary for Governor and received 416 of the 71,195 votes cast. Colbry's non-presence effectively makes this a two-way race.
Weddleton raised over $57,000 for his reelection, beginning the campaign with $1,078.68 cash. He reported over $12,000 in expenditures, closed with $45,859.75 cash on hand, and reported a cool $10,000 in debt to Ship Creek Group.
Save Anchorage-backed candidate Randy Sulte, who began his campaign with zero cash on hand, raised over $62,000 in campaign donations, reported $24,318.93 in expenditures, and is curiously reporting no debt, leaving him with $37,859.23 cash on hand.
Sulte is a proponent of mask choice, anti-mandate, and pro-police, which I'm interpreting as possibly meaning he 'Backs the Blue.' Naturally, the far-right Save Anchorage group supports his candidacy. His continued silence after pro-Bronson supporters and members of the Save Anchorage group wore Holocaust imagery at a series of Anchorage Assembly meetings last fall is deafening.
Sulte recently attended an Americans for Prosperity (AFP) event and later thanked its state director Bernadette Wilson on social media for what he said was a great event (yikes). If that doesn't scare the crap out of you, check out these photographs Sulte shared on his campaign's Facebook page.
Weddleton is an intelligent guy. He holds an M.S. in Economics from the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, and a B.A. in Political Science from Tulane University. He brings extensive civic experience and a balanced perspective to the Anchorage Assembly despite voters not agreeing with every vote cast.
He's reasonable, rational, thoughtful, well-meaning, and noticeably meticulous. Weddleton has demonstrated that he's not going to automatically greenlight every idea that the Bronson administration tosses out but has made clear that he is willing to work with them — as every Assembly member should.
Weddleton has proven he's good on equality, having voted in 2020 to ban the dangerous practice of conversion therapy. He's also worked diligently to make Anchorage a more affordable city and says he will continue that work.
The Anchorage Education Association, Anchorage Central Labor Council, the Anchorage Home Builders Association, and The Alaska Center have endorsed him. He's received personal endorsements from Heather Harris, the former Director of the Anchorage Health Department, Mayor Bronson's former Homeless Coordinator John Morris, and local Non-Profit Leader Barbara Carlson.
Weddleton can and probably will win this race even though his district has become more complicated. He has served his constituents well during his time on the Assembly, and his campaign prowess will likely be demonstrated at the door.
Still, I wish his campaign would establish more of a social media presence and engage with voters there. As we learned last year in the mayoral runoff election, one can't take anything for granted.
