Unofficial results: voters pick Cottle, Mayfield

MAT-SU — The big winners in Tuesday balloting were Bert Cottle in the Wasilla mayoral election, Dan Mayfield in the Mat-Su Borough Assembly race, and a pair of borough ballot propositions.

Everywhere else on the ballot, Valley voters favored incumbents. Vote totals are unofficial and subject to change over the coming days but, as of 10 p.m. Tuesday, here's where the vote stood:

Mat-Su Borough

The borough had just one contested race — for the assembly seat representing Knik and Big Lake. The victory appears to have gone to Big Lake Community Council Vice President Dan Mayfield who took in 627 votes to Mat-Su Borough Planning commissioner Bill Kendig's 334.

Steve Colligan won another term on the assembly and voters saw fit to return Tiffany Scott and Ole Larson to the school board in uncontested races.

Voters also seemed to support both borough propositions, approving by wide margins tax breaks for seniors and disabled veterans and redrawing the borough's voting districts to match state districts.

City of Wasilla

The contested mayor's race went to Deputy City Administrator Bert Cottle who pulled in nearly 75 percent of the vote, raking in 566 votes to city planning commissioner Loren Means' 188. This will be the second time Cottle has been mayor of a city; he previously served as mayor of Valdez.

Of the two city council seats up this year, only one was contested. It appears to have gone to Stu Graham, a ubiquitous presence at civic events in the Valley and currently an employee of MTA. He bested bartender Allison Sacco and Navy veteran and construction industry professional Tim Burney. Graham pulled in 42.9 percent of the vote.

In another uncontested race, Colleen Sullivan-Leonard was returned to the council.

City of Palmer

Voters looked kindly on incumbents in the city. Of the three people running, incumbents Linda Combs and Brad Hanson were returned to their council seats to serve third terms, with 44 percent and 36 percent of the vote respectively. Challenger Elden Tritch pulled in 16 percent of the vote. The top two vote-getters will be seated on the council.

City of Houston

As is usually the case, the vote in the borough's least populous city hinged on fewer voters than it would take to fill a school bus. Just 19 votes separated Mayor Virgie Thompson from her challenger Ron Gaffney but that almost counts as a commanding lead, considering the vote totals were 54 for Gaffney and 73 for Thompson.

Incumbent Gina Jorgensen, who did not have an opponent, won her election as well.