The candidate filing deadline for this year’s local elections was yesterday evening, and the pool is pretty small.
The only contested local race on the central Kenai Peninsula this year will be for Kenai’s school board seat. Candidates vying for the four open seats on the Kenai and Soldotna city councils will run unopposed, as will candidates for all three open Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly seats and two school board candidates.
In Soldotna, incumbent council members Linda Farnsworth-Hutchings and Jordan Chilson are running unopposed for their respective council seats. Farnsworth-Hutchings has served on the council since 2020 and Chilson has served since 2018.
In Kenai, incumbent council member Deborah Sounart is running for reelection alongside newcomer Sovala Kisena.
Prior to joining the Kenai City Council in 2020, Sounart was the band director at Kenai Central High School and Kenai Middle School for 26 years. Kisena sits on the Kenai Parks and Recreation Commission and has worked as the risk manager for the Kenai Peninsula Borough and school district since 2018.
James Baisden currently serves on the Kenai City Council, but is not seeking reelection. Rather, he’s running unopposed for the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly’s Kalifornsky seat.
Also running unopposed for assembly seats are incumbent candidate Cindy Ecklund for the eastern peninsula and Willy Dunne on the Southern Peninsula. Ecklund was elected to the assembly in 2021 and Dunne served on the assembly between 2015 and 2021.
On the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Board of Education, incumbent candidates Tim Daugharty and Kelley Cizek are running unopposed for reelection.
Daugharty, who represents Homer, was elected in 2021 and previously spent more than 25 years teaching in the district. Cizek is currently finishing out a partial school board term representing Sterling and Funny River. She’s a former school administrator at Cook Inlet Academy.
Running for the Kenai school board seat are newcomers Sarah Douthit and Jeanne Reveal. They’re vying for the seat currently held by Matt Morse.
This year, municipal election day is Tuesday, Oct. 1. The deadline to register to vote in borough races is Aug. 31. That deadline is Sept. 1 for Kenai and Soldotna city council races.
