Gubernatorial candidate Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins spoke and greeted supporters at a fundraiser at Odd Man Rush Brewing Company in Eagle River on October 19, 2026. (Marc Lester/ADN) Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins has been elected to serve as the 13th governor of Alaska. Kreiss-Tomkins, a 37-year-old former state House member from Sitka, emerged victorious with a majority of votes after presenting himself as a moderate leader who would seek a compromise to resolve the challenges facing the state. When she is sworn in Dec. 7, she will become the first Democrat to lead Alaska since former Gov. Tony Knowles concluded an eight-year term in 2002. By winning 50.8% of first-choice votes counted as of Friday, Kreiss-Tomkins defeated three Republicans in the general election. The top Republican vote-getter was Bernadette Wilson, an Anchorage business owner who received President Donald Trump’s endorsement after promising a combative, partisan approach to governing. Wilson received 28.1% of the first-choice votes. Also on the ballot was former Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson, who earned 13.6% of first-choice votes. Former Attorney General Treg Taylor had 7.2%. Although several thousand votes remain to be counted in the coming days, Kreiss-Tomkins declared victory on Friday. Many of the remaining absentee votes will continue to favor him, according to preliminary data. “Alaskans voted for change and for a government that works across party lines to move Alaska forward,” Kreiss-Tomkins said in a statement Friday morning. “Our administration will not waste a single day working to solve Alaska’s problems.” Kreiss-Tomkins will succeed Gov. Mike Dunleavy, a conservative Republican who was excluded from his re-election bid. Zac Johnson, an independent currently serving in the Anchorage Assembly, will serve as lieutenant governor, succeeding current lieutenant governor Nancy Dahlstrom, who has served in the Dunleavy administration since winning re-election in 2022. Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins and his running mate Zac Johnson take a photo in The Broken Blender on Nov. 3. (Photo by Anne Raup for ADN) Dunleavy’s departure from office precipitated a crowded race to fill the position. The August primary featured 17 candidates, including 12 Republicans, two Democrats and three independents. Kreiss-Tomkins came late to the race, announcing her candidacy in February. He emerged as the top primary vote-getter in August after raising more money than any other candidate for his campaign. In the end, Kreiss-Tomkins raised more than $5 million, more than all of her opponents combined. He also received millions in support from the Democratic Governors Association, which vastly outspent the Republican Governors Association in Alaska.[Previous coverage: Kreiss-Tomkins previews his policy priorities as governor]To win, the former Southeast legislator overcame limited name recognition outside his home region and had to persuade a broad coalition of voters to back him. “I always felt that there was a majority of common-sense Alaskans who wanted change and who had been discouraged for the last eight years. I felt that if our campaign could unite those Alaskans from the center right to the left and everywhere in between, that coalition could achieve a victory,” Kreiss-Tomkins said in an interview Friday. He also said the state campaign appealed to his “creative impulses.” “Using the campaign to try to imagine what a statewide campaign could be like was something I had a lot of pent-up curiosity (about),” he said. That meant creative ideas like organizing a 5K in Anchorage’s Kincaid Park as a campaign event and traveling to rural parts of the state that rarely see statewide candidates. Her campaign said Kreiss-Tomkins visited 62 communities and traveled 40,000 miles. He embarked on a 350-mile journey by snow machine to the villages of the northwestern Arctic; took a 450-mile boat trip down the Yukon River and a 100-mile boat trip down the Kuskokwim River; drove down Haul Road to Prudhoe Bay; flew to Utqiagvik to watch the whale catch; and traveled on the Tustumena ferry to communities along the Aleutian Chain, all while maintaining a base of operations in Anchorage. Meanwhile, Republicans in the race, including the three who ultimately advanced to the general election from the primaries, focused on GOP strongholds along the Railbelt as they struggled to raise money and consolidate support given the crowded field. Candidates laugh during opening remarks at a forum for gubernatorial candidates at the Alaska Hospital and Healthcare Association annual conference at the Alyeska Hotel in Girdwood on Sept. 16, 2026. From left are Treg Taylor, Bernadette Wilson, Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins and Dave Bronson. (Marc Lester / ADN) Trump’s endorsement of Wilson in October did little to change the situation among Republican-leaning voters. Neither did Bronson’s last-minute efforts to distance himself from the president, whom he had previously praised. The Alaska Republican Party, in an unusual move, refused to endorse or spend money on any of the Republicans in the field. Republican candidates who advanced to the general election were also hamstrung by controversy. Wilson did little to explain his history of unpaid business and personal debts; Bronson struggled to overcome a negative reputation cemented during his bitter tenure as mayor of Anchorage; and Taylor, who until recently served as the state’s top prosecutor, was briefly booted from the ballot for failing to disclose his financial interests as required by law. Meanwhile, Democrats and independents rallied behind Kreiss-Tomkins after the primary, most notably with the departure of Democrat Tom Begich, who came in second to Kreiss-Tomkins in the primary, then dropped out and endorsed Kreiss-Tomkins. In the final days of the campaign, Kreiss-Tomkins also received endorsements from a handful of Republican leaders, including U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who said she “understands that governing requires listening to people with different perspectives and finding common ground.”[‘A large and growing mandate’: Alaskans vote to keep ranked choice voting and open primaries]Since the election, Kreiss-Tomkins has already quietly gotten to work on the transition, with just over three weeks left until she is sworn in. He said three transition co-chairs — a Democrat, a Republican and an independent — will help guide his decisions as he prepares to take office. His first test will come just a week into his term, when he is expected to present his proposed state budget. “It’s like we have to eat a whole elephant,” Kreiss-Tomkins said Friday. “So we are focused and approaching this with as much care and thought as possible.”
