Assembly Certifies Vote after Zaletel Defeats Recall Attempt

On Tuesday, the Anchorage Assembly certified the results in a special election that sought, for reasons very few believed, to recall Assembly Member Meg Zaletel from her Assembly Seat.

Well-informed District 4 voters rejected the recall by nearly 20 points, with 59.9% voting no to recall the assemblywoman. Many on social media pointed out that Zaletel had received 1,200 more votes to retain her than when she was elected to the Assembly in 2019.

Zaletel defeated Christine Hill in the 2019 election. Hill is a longtime Alaska GOP operative and founding member of Alaskans For Open Meetings who created faux-Stars of David bearing Zaletel's name and was also a listed deputy treasurer of the group seeking to recall Zaletel.

While turnout was a bit lower than in the special election that sought and failed to recall Felix Rivera, Zaletel won 6 more precincts and +577 more votes than Rivera did in the recall attempt against him.

According to Robert Hockema, an Anchorage resident who visualizes election data, Zaletel's defenders "organized like hell" to defeat the recall brought against her. Hockema says Unite Here, a national labor organization representing 1,500 workers in Anchorage alone, knocked on doors non-stop for six weeks and reached over 25,000 voters throughout the campaign.

Yesterday in dual press releases, it was announced that Zaletel had been named Interim Executive Director of Anchorage Coalition to End Homelessness (ACEH) and will no longer Chair or be a member of the Assembly's Committee on Housing and Homelessness, nor will she participate in her capacity as an assembly member on issues involving policy or appropriations related to homelessness.

It was not immediately clear if Zaletel would seek re-election in April. Kathy Henslee, a longtime member of the far-right Save Anchorage Facebook group, is challenging Zaletel for her assembly seat.