21-03-2025
Building and zoning reforms emerge as wedge in unusually competitive Anchorage Assembly race
Mar. 20—Six of the 12 seats on the Anchorage Assembly will be determined by this spring's municipal election, which ends on April 1. Unlike recent cycles, few of the races are particularly competitive. Four of the contests have just a single candidate running a traditional campaign, against challengers with little to no organized support or public messaging.
One area where that is not the case is District 1, which covers downtown Anchorage, as well as neighborhoods like Fairview, Government Hill and Mountain View.
Assembly seats are nonpartisan, but residents in the district tend to consistently elect liberal officials, often by wide margins. In this cycle, though, the progressive incumbent, Daniel Volland, is facing a robust challenge from a Realtor with a background in Republican politics and community-level public service.
The challenger, Daniel George, has backing from an unusual coalition that runs the political gamut, from conservative stalwarts and former Republican politicians to progressive elected officials and left-leaning community activists. He also raised close to the same amount of money as Volland in the most recent round of campaign finance reports filed with the state, $8,824 to Volland's $10,540, although Volland had already raised substantially more prior to that, and upcoming reports to the Alaska Public Offices Commission may look quite different.
One of the animating issues in the race is housing, and how members of the Assembly, including Volland, have pushed for reforms to get more homes and residential units added to Anchorage's inadequate supply.
"Our worldviews are very similar," former South Anchorage Assembly member John Weddleton said about Volland.
"But he's not turned out well," he added.
Weddleton has been lending his support to George, donating money to his campaign and co-sponsoring a fundraiser for the first-time Assembly candidate earlier this month.
[Anchorage election guide: Q&As with candidates for Assembly and school board]
'A critical inflection point'
Volland was elected in a 2022 special election after the Assembly voted to add a 12th seat. Prior to that, the downtown district was represented by just one member.
Turnout in that election was poor, even by the standards of District 1, which tends to have some of the lowest voter participation in the municipality. And because it was a special election among six candidates, Volland won by receiving the biggest share of votes — close to 39% — but not a majority. The second-highest vote getter received about 31%.
Since joining the body, Volland, an optometrist with a business downtown, has a track record of advocating for changes to housing and zoning rules, improved pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure, and more resources for behavioral health in the public safety system, among other issues.
He connects the support for his rival from traditional backers of progressive candidates to his work on housing policy, and a "change-averse" attitude among some when it comes to building and development.
"I think a lot of it comes from the work we've done on housing to make it more possible to build more multifamily duplexes and threeplexes and fourplexes," said Volland, who has backed several initiatives — some successful, others not — to make it easier to build multifamily structures through code changes to land-use and permitting.
Housing is a touchy subject in Anchorage politics, and one that doesn't always break across traditional political fault lines. Volland said some people have criticized Assembly members like himself for being "too bold on housing," but he also hears from constituents who don't think measures enacted in the last few years go far enough to address the scale of the affordability crisis and shortage in new units.
"I think Anchorage is at a critical inflection point right now. In some ways we are in decline. But I also feel like there's a lot of folks who are embracing a positive view," Volland said.
Volland pointed out that many of the people backing his opponent do not actually live in the district. Because housing and zoning policy tend to affect residents all over the city, he said, some people who oppose denser developments in neighborhoods that have long barred anything but single-family homes have been drawn to the downtown race.
Daniel George grew up in Anchorage, and though a chunk of his professional career was spent working for state and congressional politicians, he's remained engaged in the city's neighborhood-level political system, both as leader of the Mountain View Community Council and Federation of Community Councils, as well as serving on the Planning and Zoning Commission. That perspective, along with his work selling homes, he said, has given him a level of technical insight into policies that are and are not working in the municipality.
"Our housing stock is aged, and it's aged poorly," he said. "I'm a Realtor, I've sold a lot of houses in the Mat-Su in recent years."
His campaign has drawn support from people who don't usually donate to the same candidates or socialize at fundraisers. An event on March 3 included some unlikely bedfellows. The list of co-sponsors included conservatives like former Eagle River state Sen. Anna MacKinnon, former Anchorage first lady Deb Bronson, and Mayor Dave Bronson's former Chief of Staff Sami Graham. And there were solidly liberal co-sponsors, as well, including former Assembly member Sheila Selkregg, entrepreneur and activist Eleanor Andrews, and outgoing Assembly member Karen Bronga, who represents the east side.
George said the breadth of that coalition reflects relationships he's built through volunteering and public service.
Part of his problem with the Assembly's approach to housing policy, he said, is less about specific policies it has pursued than the way it has tackled them. At times, he said, members have speedily advanced reform ordinances that he thinks have run roughshod over the public process. In other instances, he thinks the body's priorities have been off, like pursuing denser housing options in neighborhoods rather than finding ways to incentivize development of unused lots.
"Density is not the only solution, it only nips around the edge of the solution," George said. "How do we unlock stranded parcels?"
[Here are the bonds and levies on the ballot in Anchorage's city election]
'It's about the process'
Not everyone's support for George over the incumbent Volland comes down to policy preferences.
"He's very combative. And he draws lines and he alienates people," Weddleton said of Volland.
During his two terms on the Assembly, Weddleton earned a reputation as a moderate with an interest in technical details. He said that while he supported Volland in his first bid for office, the approach to housing policy from him and some other members of the Assembly has repeatedly bypassed opportunities for public engagement, and in so doing damaged public trust among constituents.
"If they don't toe his line, they're a 'NIMBY,'" said Weddleton. The acronym stands for "Not In My Backyard," and is often used to criticize people who might support development in general, but not when it happens near their homes or neighborhoods.
Weddleton said his support for George comes partly out of his shared background on the Planning and Zoning Commission and as a fellow "community council guy," who in spite of his own political positions, prioritizes civility and pragmatism.
That was likewise what drew Karen Bronga to back George.
"We don't agree on a hell of a lot of things, but we agree on engaging with people, being civil," said Bronga, who opted not to run for re-election.
In 2023, Bronga beat another first-time candidate who was aligned with the conservative Bronson administration. Though generally she votes with the Assembly majority, she has often split with it. And she's critical of political orthodoxy she believes has put the body out of step with many residents, even those who support a more liberal-leaning agenda for the city.
"We have an Assembly that has swung too far left in some areas," she said. "I'm hearing more and more from people that contributed to my campaign that are considered very progressive ... And they are like, 'What the hell is going on with this Assembly? It's gone too far to the left.'"
One resident who typifies some of the trends at play in the District 1 race is Dianne Holmes. A retiree who lives on the south side, Holmes regularly testifies before the Assembly and is highly engaged with land use and zoning issues across the city. Typically, when she donates to local political campaigns, it is to more liberal-leaning candidates. But this cycle she has contributed to George.
"We had great hopes for Volland. And I think it has to do a lot with the housing situation. No one will say 'we're against more housing,' because we need it. But it's about the process," Holmes said.
She ticked off a number of housing and zoning measures from the last two years that have gone before the Assembly. Some, she said, were decent proposals. But what bothered her were the ways she believes Volland and others steered them away from public input or diminished oversight and review from city planners.
Holmes and others do not expect George to win. It is hard to unseat an Assembly incumbent. And though George has raised a respectable amount of money, he filed to run for the seat at the very last minute and has raced to stand up a visible campaign. But, she said, this may get him some name recognition for next year, when Assembly Chair Christopher Constant, who is barred by term limits from running again, is not on the ballot.
Other races this cycle are drastically more lopsided, with many local politicos treating them as foregone conclusions, either because of an incumbency advantage, or because one candidate has a monopoly on resources over the challengers. Or both. The Eagle River contest includes two candidates both running for Assembly for the first time who are closely matched on fundraising.
Municipal ballots were mailed out earlier this month and have to be postmarked or cast in person by April 1.
