KathyHope Erickson was born and raised in Sitka and has been Tribal Chair in the Sitka Tribe of Alaska for the last two years. (Photo by Enrique Pérez de la Rosa)

KathyHope Erickson has won re-election as the chair of the Sitka Tribal Council.

Unofficial results following balloting Tuesday, Nov 14 put the incumbent Erickson two votes ahead of runner-up Woody Widmark, 80-78. Widmark has previously served 20 years as chair.

Tribal citizens cast a total of 167 ballots in races for Tribal Chair and for four Tribal Council seats.

Erickson says she’s happy to be back for another term as Tribal Chair.

“I’m really grateful for the support I’ve had over the last two years and during the campaign too,” Erickson said. “And I’m really looking forward to continuing the work that we have already started. I invite everybody to come on down to the committee meetings and to the council meetings and make your voices be heard there.”

Tribal voters largely chose to reelect incumbents. , In addition to Tribal chair KathyHope Erickson, voters returned Nancy Douglas, Mike Miller and Bob Sam to their seats on the council with 112, 106 and 96 votes respectively. Lillian R. Feldpausch also won a seat with 95 votes. Feldpausch has served on the council in the past, but most recently, she was a staff member of the Sitka Tribe of Alaska.

The Tribal Council will meet on November 21 to certify the election results. Once the newly elected council members are sworn in, they will serve a 2-year term until November 30, 2020.