Lane Chesley, who ran unopposed, will be the new Kenai Peninsula Borough Assemblymember from District 8 Homer. Chesley gathered 848 votes on election day.
When he replaces current Assembly President Kelly Cooper (who was forced to move on because of term limits), later in the month, the entire assembly membership will be male.
As will the mayor. First-term incumbent Mayor Charlie Pierce is handily winning re-election against challenger Linda Farnsworth-Hutchings, with 5,777 votes to 3,531, or about 60-percent to 36-percent. Troy Nightingale gathered 363 votes for nearly four-percent. These results are with 28 of 29 borough precincts reporting. According to Borough Clerk Johni Blankenship, there are thousands of absentee ballots waiting to be counted.
There will be other changes coming to the Assembly, with Richard Derkevorkian on the way to unseating longtime Assemblymember Hal Smalley 49-to-38 percent in Kenai District 2. Bill Elam ran unopposed for the seat currently held by Norm Blakely in Sterling-Funny River District 5.
In the only contested race for the borough school board, Virginia Morgan is winning District 8, the East Peninsula, over Katie Hamilton by less than a hundred votes. Incumbents running unopposed won the other three school board seats. They were Jason Tauriainen, Penny Vadla and Debbie Cary.
All results are preliminary until certified.
