Costello-Wells rematch puts Southwest Anchorage House seat back in play

Southwest Anchorage does not have to guess whether House District 15 can produce a close race.

It just did.

The Alaska Division of Elections lists Rep. Mia Costello, a Republican, as the certified incumbent in House District 15. It lists Denny Wells, a Democrat, as pending.

That makes the district a rematch. Costello beat Wells in 2024, but not by enough to make the race forgettable. Official election results show Costello with 4,543 votes, Wells with 4,014, Dustin Darden with 242 and write-ins with 17.

Costello's margin over Wells was 529 votes.

District 15 is Southwest Anchorage. The official district map names precincts around Sand Lake, Kincaid, Dimond, Strawberry, Westpark, Jade, Endicott, Yukon Charlie, Sportsman and nearby park and lake corridors. It is the kind of Anchorage district where state politics runs through school conversations, commute routes, property taxes, public safety, outdoor access and the cost of staying in town.

Costello starts with the weight of incumbency and a long resume in Alaska politics.

She is a lifelong Alaskan, a West High and Harvard graduate, and a former teacher.Costello served in the House from 2011–2014, in the Senate from 2015–2022, and returned to the House for 2025–2026.

In the current Legislature, she sits on House Energy, House Judiciary, House Rules and several finance subcommittees. Her prime-sponsored bills include measures tied to legislative budgeting, career and technical education tax credits, and an Alaska-Ireland trade commission.

That is the institutional side of the race: a known Republican officeholder with years in Juneau and a fresh term in the House.

Wells offers voters a different pitch. He was raised in Fairbanks, the son of an IBEW electrician. He attended the University of Alaska Fairbanks, served in the Peace Corps in Thailand with his wife, left an oil-industry job to open a small business, and has three school-aged children.

That biography reads less like a Capitol resume and more like a kitchen-table campaign: kids, work, schools, a small business and a district where families are deciding whether Anchorage still pencils out.

The 2024 result gives the rematch its shape. Costello won, but Wells showed he could make Southwest Anchorage competitive. Darden's 242 votes also mattered in a race where the gap between the top two was just over twice that number.

What filing day did was set up the second round.