Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins has won Alaska’s gubernatorial election, defeating Republican Bernadette Wilson, who had President Donald Trump’s endorsement. The result puts the governor’s office back in Democratic hands.
The Associated Press called the race Friday evening local time. Kreiss-Tomkins, a former state lawmaker, will be Alaska’s first Democratic governor since 1998.
The campaign was an unusual one for Republicans, with several candidates competing to succeed Gov. Mike Dunleavy, who could not seek a third consecutive term. Trump criticized fellow Republicans Dave Bronson and Treg Taylor, saying their campaigns risked splitting conservative support.
Wilson, a conservative activist and former political operative, faced Bronson, a former Anchorage mayor, and Taylor, Alaska’s former attorney general, in the crowded contest.
Kreiss-Tomkins, who previously represented Sitka in the state legislature, emerged as the Democratic nominee and sought to end the party’s long absence from the governor’s office.
Alaska’s ranked-choice voting system shaped the election. If no candidate wins a majority of first-choice votes, the last-place candidate is eliminated and their ballots are reassigned based on voters’ next choices. The process continues until someone has a majority of the remaining votes.
The system allows candidates from the same party to compete in the general election without a separate partisan runoff. Alaska usually votes Republican in presidential elections, though Democrats and independents have occasionally won statewide office.
