ANCHORAGE (The Thursday Times) — Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins has won the race for governor of Alaska, becoming the first Democrat elected to lead the state since 1998 and adding to his party’s gains in this month’s US midterm elections.
The 37-year-old former state House member from Sitka took 50.8% of the first-choice votes counted as of Friday, enough to win outright under Alaska’s ranked-choice system without further rounds of counting. His three Republican opponents conceded. Bernadette Wilson, an Anchorage business owner endorsed by President Donald Trump, had 28.1%, former Anchorage mayor Dave Bronson had 13.6%, and former attorney general Treg Taylor had 7.2%.
“Alaskans voted for change and for a government that works across party lines to move Alaska forward,” Kreiss-Tomkins said in a statement on Friday. “Our administration will not waste a single day getting to work to solve problems for Alaska.”
Sworn in on 7 December
Kreiss-Tomkins will take office on 7 December, succeeding Republican Governor Mike Dunleavy, who was barred by term limits from running again. Zac Johnson, an independent member of the Anchorage Assembly, will serve as lieutenant governor. The last Democrat to govern Alaska, Tony Knowles, left office in 2002.
A late entrant who announced his run in February, Kreiss-Tomkins topped a 17-candidate primary in August and went on to raise more than $5m, more than all of his opponents combined. Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski endorsed him.
He campaigned on the cost of living, full funding for public schools, a corporate income tax on all oil and gas producers, and a pause on new data centres until state lawmakers set rules for them. He also criticised the decline of the state ferry network, a lifeline for coastal towns with no road links, and promised a cabinet drawn from Democrats, Republicans, and independents.
Democrats reach 30 governorships
Alaska is the sixth governorship to switch from Republican to Democratic control in this year’s elections, after Georgia, Iowa, Nevada, Ohio, and Texas. Democrats will hold 30 of the 50 governors’ offices next year, a majority for the first time since 2010. The party also kept Kansas, where state senator Cindy Holscher narrowly beat the Trump-endorsed Republican, Ty Masterson.
The 3 November midterms gave Democrats control of both the Senate and the House, and the party has since picked up seats in Republican strongholds, including a Senate seat in Mississippi.
Alaska’s own Senate race is still being counted. Democrat Mary Peltola was leading the Republican incumbent, Dan Sullivan, on Saturday with few ballots left to count, but the race has not been called.
