Former Sitka legislator Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins appears headed to victory as Alaska’s first Democratic governor in 24 years with a commanding lead in the vote count as of the Division of Elections report at 2:19 a.m. this morning.
JKT, as he is known, had a commanding 49.01% of the vote (103,610) to second-place finisher Republican Bernadette Wilson’s 29.12% (61,566) in Tuesday’s election, followed by Republican Dave Bronson at 14.14% and Republican Treg Taylor at 7.43%.
It takes 50% plus one to win an election in Alaska, and JKT will have to wait on the tens of thousands of absentee and early votes still to count and seven rural precincts that had not reported as of early Wednesday morning.
If he does not reach the winning threshold of 50% plus one after all the votes are counted in the next two weeks, Alaska’s ranked-choice voting system would kick in.
The fourth-place finisher, Taylor, would be eliminated and his voters would be counted for their second choice. If that did not move JKT to 50% plus one, the third-place finisher, Bronson, would be eliminated and his voters would be counted for their next choice between the two remaining candidates, JKT and Wilson.
The deadline for absentee ballots to arrive at the Division of Elections to be counted is Nov. 18.
Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy is term-limited after eight years and could not run for reelection this year.
Wrangell voted for JKT, but not by as wide a margin as the statewide total. He collected 234 votes on Tuesday in Wrangell, about 40%, to 188 for Wilson, 118 for Bronson and 48 for Taylor.
In the nationally significant race for U.S. Senate in Alaska, Democrat Mary Peltola held a 626-vote lead as of early Wednesday morning, with 102,701 votes, 48.02%, over incumbent Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan’s 102,075, 47.73%.
The candidates will need to wait for the early and absentee ballots still to be tallied, and then likely will go through the ranked-choice tabulation to determine the winner, where the thousands of votes cast for the third- and fourth-place finishers would be redistributed to their second and third choices
Republican Gerald Heikes received 4,821 votes and Dan Sullivan, a retired Petersburg teacher, received 3,583 votes in the U.S. Senate race, as of Wednesday morning’s count.
The Senate race was the most expensive in state history, with the campaigns and political action committees raising a reported $150 million.
If Peltola wins, she is expected to be the 55th or 56th Democratic senator in a large majority. If Sullivan wins, he would be a member of a shrunken Senate Republican caucus that will now be in the minority.
Wrangell voted overwhelmingly for Sullivan over Peltola, 355-206.
The race for Alaska’s one seat in the U.S. House is not close, though the leader, incumbent Republican Rep. Nick Begich, will have to wait for the final tally to see if reaches 50% plus one.
As of Wednesday morning, Begich had 105,353 votes, 49.51%, to independent challenger Bill Hill’s 85,838.
Wrangell voted for Begich over Hill 391 to 141.
Tuesday’s election included two ballot propositions: One would repeal Alaska’s ranked-choice voting system, and one would add the word “only” to state law to say “only U.S. citizens” may vote.
As of Wednesday morning’s tally, the repeal initiative was failing 48.15% to 51.85% — 98,218 votes for repeal and 105,774 votes in favor of keeping the ranked-choice system in place.
It is the third time a majority of Alaskans have cast their ballots in favor of ranked-choice voting (2020, 2024 and 2026).
Wrangell, contrary to the rest of the state, voted to repeal ranked-choice voting, 345 to 236.
Statewide, the margin of victory on the citizens-only initiative was huge, 69.64% to 30.36%, and in Wrangell, where it passed by a better than 3-1 margin, 448-132.
In state legislative races, incumbent Republican Rep. Jeremy Bynum was far ahead of his independent challenger Grant EchoHawk, 2,800 to 1,778, for the seat to represent Ketchikan, Wrangell, Metlakatla, Coffman Cove, Whale Pass and Hyder.
In Wrangell voting, Bynum was ahead 408 to 172 as of Wednesday morning.
In an election night statement, Kreiss-Tomkins said he’s made a “very, very long list” of issues he wants to tackle, and he’s committed to work across partisan divides for Alaskans, including with the Trump administration.
“I’m excited to work with anyone and everyone — Trump administration to the House and Senate and the Legislature to all other partners in and out of government, for potentially some really big wins for Alaska,” he said, as reported by the Alaska Beacon.
“Instead of conflict and dysfunction, we want compromise and collaboration,” said Kreiss-Tomkins, as reported by the Anchorage Daily News. “It seems like the country wants change more broadly, and Americans have spoken with their votes, and it’s a pretty strong statement.”
Wilson turned reporters away from her Election Day event in Anchorage.
