Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins Projected To Win Alaska Governor's Race
Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins is projected to win Alaska's governor's race, ending a two-decade Democratic drought in the state, according to CNN's Decision Desk.
The former Democratic state lawmaker will become the first Democrat elected governor of Alaska in two decades once the result becomes official, giving his party a rare statewide victory there.
CNN attributed part of his advantage to a divided Republican field and a difficult national environment for the governing party. The contest featured a late endorsement from a Republican senator and an earlier withdrawal that left Democrats with just one candidate.
Three Republicans, One Democrat
Three Republicans stayed in the race through the general election, giving Alaska voters several GOP options in the state's controversial ranked-choice balloting. Alaska voters adopted the top-four primary and ranked-choice general election through a 2020 ballot measure.
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Democrats started with two candidates advancing from Alaska's all-party primary, which sends the top four finishers to the general election. The other Democrat stepped aside to improve Kreiss-Tomkins' chances, leaving him as the party's only candidate. The primary narrowed the field, and the general election decided the office.
That gave Democrats a single candidate to rally around before ballots were counted, while Republicans had three candidates competing for first-choice votes. Each Republican still had to make the case for first place on ballots that offered voters three GOP choices.
Alaska's ranked-choice system lets voters rank candidates beyond their first choice. Those additional rankings come into play if the first-choice count does not produce a candidate with a majority.
CNN pointed to the Republican split as a factor in the outcome, alongside the pressure the party faced nationally.
Murkowski Crosses The Aisle
The race also drew a cross-party endorsement from Alaska's senior Republican senator. Sen. Lisa Murkowski backed Kreiss-Tomkins as the campaign neared its end, when voters were making their final choices.
The endorsement gave voters a prominent example of a Republican elected official crossing party lines in the governor's race, CNN reported. It added a Republican voice to the Democrat's campaign during the final stretch of the race.
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Born and raised in Sitka, Kreiss-Tomkins made affordability central to his campaign. He also campaigned on expanding access to health care and protecting fisheries in a state with many rural communities. His emphasis on fisheries brought one of Alaska's key industries into a campaign otherwise centered on household costs and health care access.
His time as a state representative gave him experience in Alaska government before he sought the governor's office. CNN's projection puts him on course to move from representing part of Alaska to leading the entire state.
A Bigger Democratic Map
The Alaska result is one of the statewide contests shaping the national map after the midterms.
CNN reported that Democrats will control 30 governorships once the winners are sworn in, compared with 20 for Republicans. That is a 10-seat advantage, or 60% of governorships nationwide.
Measured by population, the gap is even wider. CNN estimated that roughly 75% of Americans will live under a Democratic governor once the newly elected governors take office. That estimate accounts for the different sizes of the states, giving more weight to those with more residents.
For Republicans, the projection means losing a governor's office in a state that had resisted Democrats for two decades.