Two people are vying to serve as Juneau’s next mayor in the Oct. 1 municipal election.
Incumbent Mayor Beth Weldon faces challenger Angela Rodell, who is running on a fiscally conservative platform and out-fundraising her opponent so far.
Weldon has served as Juneau’s mayor since 2018. In an interview leading up to the election, she said her highest priority right now is flood preparation and mitigation following last month’s record-breaking glacial outburst flood.
“If we don’t figure out something or if we can’t get the federal government involved or figure out something local, our next year – could the flood be even worse? And that’s where our housing stock is in Juneau, is in the Valley,” she said.
Meanwhile, Rodell said she is running because she thinks there needs to be a heightened focus on how the city spends its money.
“I think we need to get back to basics and really focus on our spending priorities and what our community needs to keep our young families and our senior citizens here and make Juneau affordable,” she said.
This is Rodell’s first time running for local office. She previously served on the Juneau Airport Board for six years. She was CEO of the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation from 2015 to 2021, when the fund’s board of trustees voted to remove her from the role. She’s now a consultant and legislative staffer and serves as board chair of Launch Alaska, a nonprofit tech company based in Anchorage.
Weldon is a retired division chief with Capital City Fire/Rescue and owns Glacier Auto Parts. She has two adult sons and is a lifelong resident of Juneau. If re-elected, it will be Weldon’s third, three-year term as mayor. She also served two years as an Assembly member before resigning to run for mayor.
The pair share common ground on local issues like the Ship-Free-Saturday ballot proposition or a recall of school board members, both of which they oppose. But they differ on two other ballot questions – the $10 million Juneau Douglas Wastewater Treatment Plant bond and the $12.7 million public safety radio bond. Weldon supports both, while Rodell opposes them.
“They’re pretty ancient, and for safety reasons, and just being able to talk to other agencies – that’s really important to fix that system,” Weldon said about the public safety radio bond.
But Rodell says the city should have set aside money for the projects a long time ago.
“I’m concerned that we’re using debt for these two ballot initiatives simply because we have a number of reserves that we’ve held over time for various initiatives,” she said. “We’ve raised taxes significantly over the last four to five years, and I’m concerned that we’re not addressing ongoing maintenance needs when they happen, but rather it seems to get to a crisis point.”
Both candidates have attended a handful of candidate forums and events in the months leading up to the election. According to campaign finance records, Rodell has raised more than $23,000 toward her campaign while Weldon has raised just under $16,000. Several current and former Republican state lawmakers are among Rodell’s campaign patrons.
Election Day is Oct. 1, but the final outcome of all candidate races won’t be known until all of the mail-in ballots are received and the city certifies final results on Oct. 15.
