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Pierce and Farnsworth-Hutchings in run-off race for borough mayor

Shahla Farzan/KBBI

Mark your calendars for October 24th. That’s the date of the run-off election for Borough mayor. Linda Farnsworth-Hutchings and Charlie Pierce were the top two vote getters in unofficial results.

“I’m very, very pleased that I’m holding a majority of the votes on the Peninsula,” Pierce said. “I would say that Team Charlie is ready for the race. We’re going to run to the finish line.”

Pierce says his strategy won’t change for the next round, and he’ll continue to stump with a conservative approach. Hutchings couldn’t be reached for comment Tuesday night.

Voters also weighed in on a trio of ballot propositions, saying No to all three. A measure to raise the borough’s sales tax cap failed, as did the question of issuing bonds for upgrades to the Borough building in Soldotna.

The cannabis question on ballot Proposition 1 was decided by a wide margin. Voters chose to keep the marijuana industry in the Borough by a vote of 64% to 36%. That issue may have drawn a large number of absentee ballots and early votes. Borough Clerk Johni Blankenship says the number of votes left to count is significantly higher than in previous years, perhaps as much as thirty percent more than usual.

“It means that we will not have results from the absentees or the in-questions until early next week,” Blankenship explained.

On the Central Peninsula in District 1 covering the K-Beach area, Brent Hibbert will retain his seat with a roughly 10-point win over Dan Castimore. The Assembly seat in Kenai will be filled once again by Hal Smalley, who was term limited off the Assembly in 2014. Norm Blakeley will represent the Sterling and Funny River areas in District 5 after defeating Leslie Morton.