It’s official. Beth Weldon is Juneau’s new mayor.
The election results were certified Tuesday, meaning that at the next City and Borough of Juneau Assembly meeting, Ken Koelsch’s title of mayor transfers over to Weldon, who emerged from a four-way mayoral race to claim victory. In the case of a city emergency of some sort, CBJ Clerk Beth McEwen explained, Weldon would be sworn in and would take over.
[See the full, certified results here]
Three new Assembly members and one incumbent are also officially the winners of their races. District 1 Assembly member Loren Jones ran unopposed for re-election. Carole Triem finished ahead of Tom Williams for the Areawide seat. She will serve a one-year term, replacing former Assembly member Norton Gregory who resigned from the Assembly to run for mayor.
The Assembly will get two new District 2 Assembly members. Michelle Bonnet Hale, who got the most votes of the five candidates vying for the two spots, will serve a full three-year term. Wade Bryson, who narrowly defeated Garrett Schoenberger for the second District 2 seat, will serve a one-year term.
The final official count had Bryson defeating Schoenberger by 129 votes, 3,018-2,889. That race came down to the early, absentee and questioned ballots, which were counted up on the Friday night after the election.
The new Assembly members will attend an Assembly Onboarding Training event at 8 a.m. Saturday in the Assembly chambers and will be sworn in at next Monday night’s Assembly meeting at 7 p.m. in the Assembly chambers. Weldon, who was on the Assembly until resigning on July 31 to run for mayor, will lead that meeting.
At Tuesday night’s Board of Education meeting, the three new members — Kevin Allen, Paul Kelly and Elizabeth Siddon — were sworn in. Siddon earned the most votes of those three, who were running for three spots.
Also certified is the fact that voter turnout in this municipal election was 35.5 percent, the highest since 2010, when 38.5 percent of registered voters cast a ballot. There were 7,070 ballots cast on Election Day and 2,537 ballots were cast via absentee, early or questioned ballots.
• Contact reporter Alex McCarthy at 523-2271 or amccarthy@juneauempire.com. Follow him on Twitter at @akmccarthy.
Assembly District 2 candidate Michelle Bonnet Hale, left center, and Assembly Areawide candidate Carole Triem watch their numbers soar as they watch Election results come in at the Assembly chambers on Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2018. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)
Assembly District 2 Wade Bryson hugs his wife, Christine, as he moves into the second spot during Election night in the Assembly chambers on Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2018. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)
School Board candidate Kevin Allen, left, is congratulated by School Board President Brian Holst during Election night in the Assembly chambers on Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2018. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)
