Alaska has elected a Democratic governor for the first time in nearly a quarter of a century. Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, a 37-year-old former state representative from Sitka, won the race outright, and the Associated Press called it on the evening of Friday 13 November.
Because he won more than half of the first-choice votes, there will be no ranked-choice tabulation, the system Alaskans use when no candidate reaches 50%. He will succeed Republican Mike Dunleavy, who could not run again because of term limits.
The results
According to the figures published by Newsweek, with most ballots counted:
- Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins (Democrat): 50.8%;
- Bernadette Wilson (Republican, endorsed by Donald Trump): 28.1%;
- Dave Bronson (former mayor of Anchorage): 13.6%;
- Treg Taylor (former state attorney general): 7.7%.
Alaska Public Media notes that the final count, which includes ballots arriving from overseas, is expected on 18 November. The new governor is due to take office at noon on 7 December, according to KTOO.
A record and a break
Kreiss-Tomkins will be the youngest governor in Alaska's history. He is also the first Democrat to hold the office since Tony Knowles, who governed from 1994 to 2002, NPR points out.
His path was cleared in the summer: the other Democratic candidate, Tom Begich, withdrew after the August primary, which concentrated the centre-left vote behind a single name.
Who is the new governor?
Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins grew up in Sitka, a fishing town in south-east Alaska. He was first elected to the State House in 2012, at the age of 23, and sat there for a decade, part of that time in a bipartisan majority coalition. He did not seek re-election in 2022.
He succeeds Mike Dunleavy, a Republican who has governed Alaska since December 2018. Dunleavy's two terms were marked by repeated clashes with the legislature over the size of the dividend and the level of school funding.
A campaign aimed at the centre
The former legislator presented himself as a "man of the middle" and promised a cabinet open to people from both parties. Alaska Public Media reports that he drove some 40,000 miles across the state during the campaign.
His opponents nicknamed him "Just Keep Taxing", a play on his initials. They targeted his plan to raise the corporate tax paid by oil companies and a 2017 vote in favour of an income tax. Bernadette Wilson, a business owner, campaigned on large payments from the Permanent Fund Dividend, the annual cheque paid to every resident from oil revenue.
The issues that dominated the race were:
- the cost of living, very high in a state where much is imported;
- funding for schools;
- the threat of a natural gas shortage in the Anchorage area.
The rest of the Alaska ballot
The governor's race is not the only one being watched. In the US Senate contest, Democrat Mary Peltola leads Republican senator Dan Sullivan, with 49% against 46.8% — a margin of about 5,800 votes, according to Alaska Public Media. In the race for the state's only seat in the US House, Republican Nick Begich is ahead.
Alaska adopted open "top-four" primaries and ranked-choice voting for general elections through a ballot measure in 2020; a first attempt to repeal the system failed narrowly in 2024. This year's Ballot Measure 2, which would repeal the open primaries and ranked-choice voting system, was failing with about 53% "No" at the latest count. A lawsuit brought by the Trump administration over the state's voting procedures was dismissed; it is appealing.
What remains to be confirmed
- The final, certified figures after the count of overseas ballots on 18 November.
- The outcome of the Senate race between Mary Peltola and Dan Sullivan, which is still too close to call.
- The make-up of the new governor's cabinet and his first decisions on the oil tax and the dividend.
Main image: Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins at the Alaska Day parade in Sitka (file photo) — James Brooks, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.
Sources
- Alaska Public Media — JKT declares victory after topping 50% in Alaska governor's race as Peltola extends Senate lead
- Newsweek — Democrat wins Alaska governor race without ranked-choice runoff
- KTOO — Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins leads in Alaska governor's race
- NPR — Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins wins race for Alaska governor, replaces a Republican
