Juneau Mayor Beth Weldon has announced that she plans to run for a third term in October’s local election.
In an interview on Tuesday, she said the decision to run didn’t come easy.
“It’s been an extremely tough decision to make, especially with my husband, Greg’s, passing,” she said. “But I just come back to the same thoughts that I’m committed to Juneau, and I think I still have some things to offer.”
Her husband died in a motorcycle crash in Arizona in late April.
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.
She’s been mayor since 2018. Before that, she served two years on the Assembly before resigning to run for mayor. She was reelected in 2021 and will finish her second three-year mayoral term in October.
Weldon said some of her priorities if reelected are supporting child care development, more housing and keeping the city’s spending budget in check.
She said she thought about not running after her husband died, but ultimately decided to press forward.
“Before Greg passed away, I was going to run anyway. And then that kind of gave me a little bit of pause,” she said. “Then I decided that he would want me to continue to do it because he was a quiet supporter, but he was the type of guy that if I got home late one evening, there’d be leftovers from dinner for me.”
October’s election will also feature five other open seats: two on the Juneau Assembly and three on the school board. There are a few citizen initiatives that could also land on the ballot.
The two Assembly seats up for grabs are held by Michelle Hale and Wáahlaal Gídaag Barbara Blake. Both of them say they don’t plan to run again.
No one else has publicly announced their intention to run for mayor so far, but Weldon said she’d be surprised if she ran unopposed.
“I’ve always said your voice, your vote, so get out and vote. And I think we’ll see some candidates,” she said.
The filing period to run for local office opens July 12.
