Former State Representative Advances to Alaska Governor’s General Election in Ranked-Choice Primary

A crowded field of 17 governor-lieutenant governor candidate pairs competed in Alaska’s primary election Tuesday, with former state Rep. Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins and running mate Zac Johnson capturing the top spot. The duo will move forward to November’s general election along with four additional winning pairs in the state’s nonpartisan ranked-choice voting system designed to narrow the field of candidates vying to replace term-limited Republican Gov. Michael Dunleavy.

Former Democratic state Sen. Tom Begich and Julia Hnilicks secured the second position, securing their own berth in the general election. Begich arrives in the race with deep roots in Alaska politics; his father, Rep. Nick Begich Sr., served in state and federal legislatures beginning in 1962 until disappearing in a plane crash that also claimed House Majority Leader Hale Boggs while traveling between Anchorage and Juneau. His brother Mark served as a long-standing U.S. senator from Alaska, establishing the family as a Democratic fixture in state politics.

Business owner Bernadette Wilson emerged as a leading Republican contender alongside running mate Michael Shower, having grown up on the Kenai Peninsula where her family has maintained roots for generations. Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom, who previously served as Dunleavy’s deputy and represented another prominent Republican option, withdrew from the race in June.

Additional Republican candidates in the primary included former Anchorage Mayor David Bronson with Josh Church, Michael Loren Gilbert with Timothy Hickel—whose father, former Gov. Wally Hickel, held two nonconsecutive gubernatorial terms and served as interior secretary under President Richard Nixon—and former state Sen. Click Bishop with Greta Schuerch. Though Alaska typically leans Republican, Dunleavy’s term limit creates an opening for Democratic candidates like Begich to potentially capture the governor’s mansion.