Kudos to all those who have thrown their hat in the ring for the upcoming municipal election.

Running for public office, especially at the local level, at its best is a noble pursuit, but it takes a certain amount of courage to actually step up to the plate. The majority of races on this year’s municipal election ballot are contested, and we commend all those who have shown the willingness to be candidates.

For the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly, that includes Robin Davis, Kelly Wolf, David Wartinbee and Gary Knopp in the District 1-Kaliforsnky race; Kenn Carpenter and Brandii Holmdahl for the District 6-East Peninsula seat; and Willy Dunne and Dawson Slaughter for the District 9-South Peninsula seat.

For the Kenai Peninsula Borough Board of Education, Tim Navarre (District 2-Kenai), Marty Anderson (District 5-Sterling/Funny River), and Liz Downing (District 8-Homer) are running for re-election unopposed.

In Kenai, Mike Boyle, Bob Molloy and Jim Glendening are running for two city council seats.

In Soldotna, Pete Sprague is running for mayor, while Paul Whitney and Fred Sturman are running for Seat A on the city council, and Dan Nelson and Linda Murphy are running for Seat C.

There’s also a full slate of candidates running for service area boards, and the borough ballot includes four ballot measures for voters to decide.

The municipal election is Oct. 6, just a little more than a month away. For those who need to update their voter registration, the deadline to do that in time for the municipal election is Sept. 6.

Over the next month, we encourage peninsula residents to get to know their candidates. This year’s slate includes an interesting mix of familiar faces and newcomers to elected office. There is no shortage of pressing issues facing our community, and we’re looking forward to listening to what the candidates have to say about how those issues should be addressed.