Alaska elects Kreiss-Tomkins, its first Democratic governor since 1998 and youngest ever
Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, a former state representative from the small island community of Sitka, has won the race for Alaska governor, set at 37 to become the youngest governor in state history and the first Democrat to win the office since 1998. He will replace outgoing Governor Mike Dunleavy, a term-limited Republican who has led the state since 2018; Alaska's last Democratic governor was Tony Knowles, who left office in 2002. With this and other midterm wins, Democrats will hold 30 governors' offices across the country, up from 24.
Kreiss-Tomkins, widely known by his initials JKT, made what he called a high-energy, bipartisan, problem-solving approach the centerpiece of his campaign, describing himself at one debate as a man of the middle. He says he plans to build an administration of Democrats, Republicans and independents, and was endorsed by three former governors, one from each of those camps, along with Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski. Alaskans want change and a bipartisan problem-solving approach in their elected officials, he said in an interview on Friday, and that is what they are going to get with him as governor.
Ten days of counting in a four-candidate race
The race call came after ten days of counting, including ballots arriving by mail and from remote parts of the state. In Alaska's ranked choice system Kreiss-Tomkins faced three Republicans, including business owner Bernadette Wilson, who was backed by President Donald Trump. He is on track to win more than 50 percent of the first-choice vote, meaning the outcome will not depend on ranked choice tabulation. Results remain unofficial until election officials certify them on November 25. Wilson acknowledged her loss in a phone interview on Friday, saying that despite deep disagreements over the best way forward for the state, she was glad someone born in Alaska had been elected to lead it. Another Republican in the race, former Anchorage mayor Dave Bronson, congratulated Kreiss-Tomkins on social media, writing that Alaskans had made their choice and he respected their decision.
A state under pressure
Kreiss-Tomkins takes office in a state where voters have complained loudly that things are not working as they should. Rising costs and relatively flat state funding have forced schools to close and class sizes to grow; already-high food, fuel and housing costs have risen sharply; a looming shortage of easily accessible natural gas near the state's population centers threatens to push prices higher still; and Alaskans have been migrating out of the state for more than a decade.
Plans for government, the budget and schools
Speaking to a development council in Anchorage on Wednesday, Kreiss-Tomkins listed his first priority as solving nuts-and-bolts problems: what he called unsexy, non-glamorous issues like wait times for state permits and government benefits such as Medicaid, saying he wants to cultivate a culture of constant improvement in state government and make sure the basic processes and services that industry and others rely on work in the best possible way. He has yet to name appointees, but hinted he might keep some Dunleavy administration commissioners, and said he expects to start announcing appointments next week. In areas where his campaign said Alaska needed a different direction from the outgoing administration, there will be new leadership, he said.
He takes office amid a war-driven boom in oil prices that could leave the state budget with a surplus in the hundreds of millions of dollars, with an updated revenue forecast due next month. Even so, he said he expects to propose a moderate Permanent Fund dividend and to exercise responsibility and restraint, noting that Alaska's dependence on oil revenue creates a feast-or-famine cycle. He said he will pursue an amendment to the state constitution placing stricter limits on how much the state can withdraw from the Permanent Fund each year, and wants to deposit some of any coming surplus into the state's rainy-day fund. One area where he wants more spending is education: the state needs a course correction in how much it invests in public education, he said.
Kreiss-Tomkins will govern with a friendly legislature, both houses controlled by Democrat-heavy coalitions. Even so, he said he still plans to look for ways to work with Alaskans across the ideological spectrum: if the state runs from one extreme to the other, much less gets accomplished and sometimes things move backwards, he said. He will take the oath of office at noon on December 7, and, in his words, cannot wait to get to work.
Voters keep ranked choice voting
On the same ballot, Alaska voters rejected a measure that sought to repeal the state's unique system of open primaries and ranked choice voting in general elections. It was the second time in two years voters were asked whether to scrap the system and certain campaign disclosure rules, having narrowly approved adopting it in 2020. Supporters say the system invites competition and gives voters more choice; opponents, including Trump, say it is confusing.