Sitka Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins has officially joined the race for governor, making him the third Democrat and 16th candidate to join the race.
Kreiss-Tomkins, commonly and affectionately known as JKT, served in the Alaska Legislature for a decade, from 2013 to 2023, making a name for himself as a pragmatic lawmaker who worked across party lines. As one of the key members of the House’s long-lasting bipartisan coalition — a centrist coalition of Democrats, independents and moderate Republicans that has frequently clashed with the conservative Gov. Mike Dunleavy — he said the state needs that kind of thinking in the governor’s office.
“This campaign will be about working together, across political and geographic divides, to get Alaska back on track,” he said in a prepared statement. “In Juneau, I learned that Alaska is at its best when our leaders work together to solve problems. But for too many years, we’ve had a governor who has refused to work with the legislature to solve the problems we face, from our declining school system, to our economy, to rising costs. I’m running for governor to tackle those problems head on — with anyone and everyone who will join me — to create an Alaska that is affordable and has real opportunity so our kids can build their lives here at home.”
During his time in office, Kreiss-Tomkins saw several of his sponsored bills become law, including legislation that expanded the state’s official language list to include Alaska Native languages, created the North Star Medal for injured or killed peace officers and expanded the qualifications for more language-immersion teachers.
He was also part of the Legislature’s efforts to chart a fiscal plan as a member of a bipartisan, bicameral working group in 2021. The plan acknowledged that a mixture of options, including new revenue, spending restrictions and changes to the PFD formula was needed to balance the state’s budget. The plan, like many before and since then, was ultimately sank when Republicans balked at approving new revenue.
While he left the Legislature after declining to seek re-election in 2022, spending the time since working with a science and technology policy nonprofit in D.C., he said he hoped Alaska would make more progress on the issues it faces.
“Three years ago, I left the legislature to make room for new ideas and new people. But I’ve seen the same thing we all have: rising prices, struggling schools, and a state government too distracted to fix what’s broken. Alaska deserves better,” he said in a statement accompanying his campaign launch. “That’s why I’m running to be your governor. My focus is simple: work with anyone, from anywhere, to solve Alaska’s problems and get our state back on track.”
He joins a crowded, mostly Republican field seeking to replace Dunleavy, who has hit his term limit. The race will be conducted under Alaska’s open primary and ranked-choice voting system, where the top four candidates from the primary will advance to the general election regardless of their political affiliation. The general election will then be conducted with ranked-choice voting, allowing voters to support like-minded candidates without the fear of playing spoiler.
Why it matters
At 36, Kreiss-Tomkins enters the race as the youngest major candidate, a selling point when the state is in sore need of more future-facing policies after years under Dunleavy, during which the state failed to meaningfully address school funding, rising living costs, a lack of jobs and has seen a corresponding exodus of young adults. Kreiss-Tomkins, who dropped out of Yale to become a state legislator, has experience with bringing people to Alaska. In 2014, he founded the Alaska Fellows program, a prestigious initiative to attract and retain talented young people in Alaska by providing year-long fellowships at nonprofits and in the public sector.
And while he’s been focused on reaching bipartisan agreements, he’s also been one of the better bearers of progressive policies while in Juneau, frequently laying out the down-to-earth case for why policies that help working-class Alaskans help everyone.
That could be a winning formula in a political climate where solutions-based politics, like that of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, have caught fire with fed-up voters.
Matt Acuña Buxton is a long-time political reporter who has written for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and The Midnight Sun political blog. He also authors the daily politics newsletter, The Alaska Memo, and can frequently be found live-tweeting public meetings on Bluesky.
