Alaska has chosen a 37-year-old Democrat, Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, to lead a state where his party makes up barely one voter in ten, a result that reads as much like a verdict on the restless middle as on any single party. Having come up through the Statehouse by building bridges across the aisle, he now inherits a government whose finances rise and fall with the price of oil, and whose residents still expect the yearly dividend that oil makes possible. His victory, quietly assisted by divisions on the right, suggests that in a season of change Alaskans wanted someone who promised to count car
Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins Wins Alaska Governor's Race, First Democrat Elected Since 1998
"I am the pro-math candidate"
Mark
Why does a Democrat winning in Alaska matter so much?
Mimi
He's the first Democrat elected governor since 1998, and Democrats are only 11 percent of the electorate. He won by running as a coalition-builder, with Republican endorsements and a promise of a balanced cabinet.
Mark
What did the split among Republicans do?
Mimi
Two other Republicans wouldn't leave the race when Bernadette Wilson asked them to. He won a majority even before ranked-choice counting.
Luke
Careful, though. The reporting says the infighting helped. It doesn't tell us how many votes moved because of it, so we can't say it decided the race.
Mark
And Trump's endorsement of Wilson?
Mimi
It didn't give Republicans the boost they expected, in a year described as good for Democrats.
Luke
That's a characterization of the year, not a measurement of the endorsement's effect. We don't have numbers on it.
Mark
What is the hard part of governing?
Mimi
Money. No income tax, no sales tax, and an annual dividend to pay. He'll start with a surplus because the Iran war pushed oil prices up.
Luke
Which is temporary. And whether the Legislature will agree on new revenue is unknown. He's promised to try, not shown how.
Mimi
He'll also inherit the fight over Dunleavy's 31 vetoes, and he's said he'll begin there.
The Pulse
- A Democrat has won Alaska's governorship with a majority before ranked-choice tallying, a rare outcome in a state where his party holds only about 11 percent of voters.
- Republicans splintered in the final stretch, with rival candidates refusing to exit and public sniping undercutting the GOP's bid to hold the seat.
- Outgoing Governor Dunleavy's 31 vetoes, including pension restorations and a corporate tax overhaul, leave a backlog of unfinished fights waiting for the incoming administration.
- The oil-dependent budget offers a short-term surplus from wartime price spikes, but the state still lacks a stable revenue base to fund schools, ferries, and dividends.
- Kreiss-Tomkins takes office December 7 pledging to govern with a balanced team and to live in Juneau, setting up early tests of whether his bipartisan promise can hold.
Alaska has chosen a 37-year-old Democrat, Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, to lead a state where his party makes up barely one voter in ten, a result that reads as much like a verdict on the restless middle as on any single party. Having come up through the Statehouse by building bridges across the aisle, he now inherits a government whose finances rise and fall with the price of oil, and whose residents still expect the yearly dividend that oil makes possible. His victory, quietly assisted by divisions on the right, suggests that in a season of change Alaskans wanted someone who promised to count carefully rather than simply to promise more. How he balances the state's long habit of generosity against the arithmetic of its fragility will define whether this moment becomes a turning point or a brief interlude.
Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins will become Alaska's next governor, the youngest in the state's history and the first Democrat to hold the office since 1998. He told supporters that Alaskans had voted for change, and promised his administration would waste no time on the state's problems. His path to the job was unusual: a former ultramarathoner and mountaineer from Sitka, he left Yale to win a legislative seat at 23, then spent a decade in the Statehouse building coalitions and warning about the state's shaky finances.
He defeated Bernadette Wilson, a Republican former talk show host and garbage-company owner, who finished second in a four-person field. President Trump had endorsed her, but his backing did not give her the boost Republicans expected. Divisions on the right helped, as two other Republicans refused to drop out and fought publicly with her campaign. Kreiss-Tomkins won a majority even before ranked-choice counting.
He ran as a moderate who visited all 19 boroughs, pledged to repair schools and ferries, and promised to put the state's finances on firmer ground. He also vowed to live in Juneau, a point that resonated with voters weary of governors who commute from Anchorage.
He inherits a complicated set of problems. Outgoing Governor Mike Dunleavy vetoed 31 bills in two years, including efforts to restore public pensions and to modernize the corporate tax. Kreiss-Tomkins says he will revive that unfinished work first. Alaska still depends heavily on oil, has no income or sales tax, and currently enjoys a short-term surplus thanks to high prices tied to the war in Iran. Taking office on December 7, he has said the state is too fragile to keep drifting, and that it is time to get the hard work done.
Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins will be the next governor of Alaska, according to The Associated Press. At 37, he becomes the youngest governor in the state's history and the first Democrat elected to the office since 1998. In his victory declaration, he said Alaskans had "voted for change" and promised that his administration would not waste a single day getting to work on the state's problems.
He defeated Bernadette Wilson, a former Republican talk show host who owns a garbage-collection company. Wilson finished second in a four-person race. President Trump, who carried Alaska in all three of his campaigns, endorsed her, but in a year of Democratic wins his backing did not deliver the lift Republicans had expected.
The margin came in part from a split on the right. Two other Republicans in the field refused Wilson's calls to leave the race, and the dispute produced internal sniping. Kreiss-Tomkins won a majority of votes even before Alaska's ranked-choice process was applied. That is a notable result in a state where Democrats make up only 11 percent of the electorate.
His path there has been unusual. A former ultramarathoner and mountaineer from Sitka, he dropped out of Yale to win his first legislative seat at 23. He then spent a decade in the Statehouse building bipartisan coalitions and warning about the state's precarious finances. He helped build and lead the bipartisan coalition that now runs the Legislature, and that coalition has clashed repeatedly with the outgoing governor, Mike Dunleavy, a conservative Republican barred by term limits from running again.
Over the last two years Dunleavy vetoed 31 pieces of legislation. They included proposals to restore pensions for public employees and teachers, to create a retirement savings program for private-sector workers, to tax e-cigarettes and to modernize the state's corporate tax system. In an interview last month, Kreiss-Tomkins said he would begin by taking up that unfinished business, including bills the Legislature passed and Dunleavy killed.
He campaigned as a moderate. He visited all 19 of Alaska's boroughs and promised to rebuild public education and the ferry system, lower the cost of housing and energy, and protect Alaskan fisheries. He also pledged to put state finances on firmer ground. "I am the pro-math candidate," he said at one debate. In the closing stretch he touted endorsements from a string of Republicans and promised a politically balanced transition team and cabinet. He also pledged to live in Juneau, which is a sore point for some Alaskans who are tired of governors who effectively commute to the capital from Anchorage.
Wilson ran on restoring full dividend payments from the Permanent Fund, the oil-revenue account fed by levies on the state's oil and gas production. She said she would take a harder line with Republican lawmakers who work across party lines. She nicknamed her opponent, known as J.K.T. in Alaska political circles and in his own campaign materials, "Just Keep Taxing."
The fiscal question is real. Alaska has no personal income tax and no statewide sales tax, and in recent years it has struggled to pay for basic public services while also paying residents an annual dividend from oil revenue. Solving that may require persuading the Legislature to find new revenue sources.
Kreiss-Tomkins takes office on Dec. 7. He will begin with a short-term budget surplus, a result of the war in Iran, which sent oil prices sharply higher. Big decisions remain on long-term stability given the state's dependence on oil and gas. "The state is too fragile already," he said. "Alaska is paying the price of uncertainty, and this is just something we need to get done."
Notable Quotes
The state is too fragile already. Alaska is paying the price of uncertainty, and this is just something we need to get done.— Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins
Our administration will not waste a single day getting to work to solve problems for Alaska.— Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, in his victory declaration
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