Incumbent Thor Christianson has narrowly scored the second open seat on the Sitka Assembly, following the city’s count of absentee and questioned ballots Friday afternoon (10-10-25).
Overall, Christianson earned 809 votes, and Sherri Blankenship earned 783, securing the win for Christianson by just 26 votes.
Following the tabulation of the results at Harrigan Centennial Hall, he said he had been nervous going in.
“A few weeks ago, I said, ‘I think 800 votes wins this.’ And that’s exactly what happened,” Christianson said.
This will be Christianson’s sixth assembly term. He won his first seat in 1998. He said he’s excited to continue work he’s carrying over from his current term.
“There’s some things I have going now that I didn’t want to stop doing: working on the childcare initiative, working on getting some of the city land on the market in a fashion that actually moves the needle on housing prices, continuing to make sure that the haulout works,” he said. “These are all reasons why I ran so that I didn’t leave mid-stride on some of these things. So now it’s time to get back to work.”
Christianson was one of six candidates vying for two open assembly seats. Katie Riley secured the other seat on Election Day.
Overall, 2,150 ballots were cast in the 2025 municipal election. The results will be certified at the assembly meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 14.
