Democrat flips Alaska governor's mansion after Trump-backed GOP infighting
Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins has won Alaska's gubernatorial election, defeating Trump-endorsed Republican Bernadette Wilson and flipping the governor's mansion.
The Associated Press called the race for Kreiss-Tomkins, a former state lawmaker, Friday evening local time. His victory comes after Republicans battled among themselves over who should succeed Gov. Mike Dunleavy, who was barred from seeking a third consecutive term.
Republican Division
Wilson, a conservative activist and former political operative, received President Donald Trump's endorsement during a campaign in which multiple Republicans competed for the governor's office. Trump publicly criticized fellow Republicans Dave Bronson and Treg Taylor, accusing them of dividing conservative voters.
Bronson, a former Anchorage mayor, and Taylor, a former Alaska attorney general, remained part of the Republican field, creating a complicated general-election contest that ultimately benefited Kreiss-Tomkins.
Ranked-Choice Voting
Kreiss-Tomkins, a former state representative from Sitka, emerged as the Democratic contender, seeking to return his party to the governor's mansion after Dunleavy's two terms. The election unfolded under Alaska's ranked-choice voting system, which allows voters to rank candidates in order of preference.
If no candidate receives a majority of first-choice votes, the lowest-performing candidate is eliminated and those ballots are redistributed according to voters' next preferences.
Political Landscape
The contest came as Alaska remained a reliably Republican state in presidential elections, despite occasionally electing Democrats and independents to statewide office. Kreiss-Tomkins' victory marks a significant shift in the state's political dynamics after nearly three decades of Republican control of the governor's mansion.
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