Rachel Lord will be the city of Homer’s new mayor. That comes after the election canvass board finalized ballot counts last Friday.
Preliminary results placed Lord ahead of Jim Anderson. After the official count of mailed absentee and other ballots, Lord won the race by 11 percent, or 169 votes.
Lord is currently serving her third term as a city council member. She’ll succeed Mayor Ken Castner who did not run for reelection.
Lord said she’s excited to step into the role, and wants to work on connecting people to what the city is working on.
“Government can be such a difficult language to speak; it can make it hard for folks to be able to participate," she said, "and so I'm excited to explore different ideas of how to, how to make city hall feel more accessible to folks in the community.”
Anderson said he ran to give more options in the mayoral race.
“We had two good candidates, and either way, Homer wins, because they get somebody that's passionate about the future and the growth of Homer,” he said.
Anderson said he wouldn’t rule out running for office in the future.
Incumbents Donna Aderhold and Shelly Erickson also ran uncontested for two city council spots and will be reelected.
According to Homer city code, the city council will need to appoint someone to fill Lord’s seat until the next municipal election. There, voters will elect a council member to serve for the rest of the term.
1,793 people voted in the city’s election, placing voter turnout at 33%.
The city council will certify the election results and swear in elected officials at its Oct. 14 meeting.
