As of 1:30 this morning, the top four vote-getters in Tuesday’s primary election for governor — who will advance to the November general election to determine the winner — are Democrats Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins and Tom Begich, and Republicans Bernadette Wilson and Dave Bronson.
Seventeen people, including two Democrats, 12 Republicans and three independents, ran in the primary to replace Gov. Mike Dunleavy, who is term-limited and unable to run again this year.
As of 1:30 a.m. Wednesday, with 378 of 402 precincts reporting results from election day, and with thousands of absentee ballots still to count, Kreiss-Tomkins had 21.7% of the vote, Begich had 20%, Wilson had 10.5% and Bronson had 8.4%.
The first candidate outside the top four was Republican Treg Taylor, with 7.5%, followed by Republican Click Bishop, with 7.1%.
In Wrangell, Begich led the primary race for governor, with 83 votes, followed by Kreiss-Tomkins at 55, Taylor with 45 and Wilson at 34. Wrangell voters cast 438 ballots, according to the state’s totals.
Ballot-counting is expected to continue through Aug. 28, the deadline for mailed absentee ballots to reach the Alaska Division of Elections.
The primary election also included a ballot measure to impose a limit on campaign contributions — it is headed to overwhelming passage. With 378 of 403 precincts reporting, Ballot Measure 1 had the support of 71.5% of voters.
When enacted, the new law will prohibit political donors from giving a candidate more than $2,000 per election. Groups would be allowed to give no more than $4,000 per candidate per election. Currently, there is no limit in state law.
Wrangell voted strongly in favor of campaign limits, 339-88.
Kreiss-Tomkins, 37, would be the youngest governor in Alaska history if elected in November and has campaigned as a progressive Democrat. He is a former state House member from Sitka.
Begich, a former state senator from Anchorage, has likewise run as a progressive Democrat. He is the son of former Democratic U.S. Rep. Nick Begich, brother of former Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Begich and the uncle of current Republican U.S. Rep. Nick Begich III.
Wilson, a businesswoman from Anchorage, has been active in statewide Republican politics for decades but never before as a candidate. An opponent of the state’s open-primary/ranked-choice general election system, she has offered a platform similar to that of incumbent Dunleavy.
Bronson is a former mayor of Anchorage whose sole term was marred by repeated controversies and scandals before he was voted out of office. He has likewise offered a platform similar to Dunleavy.
While the two Democratic candidates are almost certain to finish with the highest vote tally in the primary, success in the primary doesn’t always signify a win in November.
Two years ago, incumbent Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola earned almost 51% of the vote during that year’s primary for U.S. House, outpacing all Republican candidates combined. In the general election, the result flipped and Republican challenger Nick Begich III defeated Peltola.
On Tuesday, the combined vote total of Begich and Kreiss-Tomkins appeared on track to be less than 50% of all votes cast.
For U.S. Senate, Republican incumbent Dan S. Sullivan and Democratic challenger Mary Peltola led a 16-candidate field with 378 of 403 precincts reporting results as of 1:30 a.m. Wednesday.
Peltola had 48% of the votes counted to that point, while Sullivan had 42.8%. Republican challenger Dan J. Sullivan of Petersburg was in third with 2.5%, and Democratic candidate David Leslie was in fourth with 1.1%.
Wrangell voters preferred Sen. Sullivan over Peltola, 219-159.
The top four candidates will advance to the November general election.
In the U.S. House race, which had 15 candidates, incumbent Republican Rep. Nick Begich III had 46.2% of the votes, while independent challenger Bill Hill had 31%. Democrat Matt Schultz, who suspended his campaign in July to back Hill, had 8.1%, and federal inmate Eric Hafner, a Democratic candidate, had 3.8%.
Wrangell voted overwhelming for Begich over Hill, 252-73.
In the state House race to represent Wrangell and Ketchikan, incumbent Republican Rep. Jeremy Bynum outpolled nonpartisan challenger Grant EchoHawk 1,580 to 1,216, with all precincts counted. The two candidates will face off in the November general election.
In Wrangell, Bynum had 252 votes, to 157 for EchoHawk.
As of Tuesday morning, Alaska voters had returned only 47% of the 21,266 absentee ballots that were sent out, indicating that thousands more ballots are likely to be added to the tally in coming days.
In the 2024 primary, 86% of absentee ballots were returned, and in the 2022 primary, almost 98% were returned.
In addition to the absentee ballots, there were 25,407 early votes, cast in person at 10 locations on the Railbelt, in Juneau and in Nome, between Aug. 3 and Aug. 17.
Only early votes cast through Aug. 13 were included in the election day count; ballots cast during the final five days of early voting are sequestered by the division to prevent double voting.
While the number of Alaskans casting ballots at early voting centers set a primary-election record, most votes this year came on election day, at more than 400 polling places spread across the state.
