The legislative body for the Fairbanks area (Fairbanks North Star Borough, analogous to a county) is an Assembly of nine at-large members. Two-thirds (6 members) of that body were certifiable right-wingers. No surprise there--Alaska is a red state, after all. The Borough held non-partisan elections yesterday for four of those seats; local progressives fielded three candidates. All of our candidates were vastly outspent by their conservative opponents, yet all three of
our candidates won election by convincing margins. Thus the Assembly's conservative contingent was cut in half (6 to 3), its progressive contingent was quadrupled (1 to 4), and its centrist contingent remained unchanged (2). This is an event of great import locally, as it not only immediately shifts the direction of local government, it showed unequivocally that
we can win.
This election was clearly about organizing and getting out the vote. Our side did it; their side apparently thought money alone could do it. In addition, I can't help but think there was something else to it, given several recent scandals involving our Assembly wingnuts. Could this be evidence of the proverbial "tipping point" away from the wingnuts, even here in the heart of one of the reddest of states? I can only hope.
What are other local activists seeing?