Democrat wins Alaska governor’s seat for first time in nearly 30 years | Alaska

Democrats won Alaska’s gubernatorial seat for the first time in nearly three decades, marking another major victory for their party during a midterm election period that has dramatically shifted political power in the United States.

Former Alaska state lawmaker Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins defeated three Republican opponents, including a candidate backed by Donald Trump, becoming the first Democrat elected governor of Alaska since 1998.

His victory — announced by The Associated Press on Friday, 10 days after polls closed — adds to a growing list of Democratic gains nationwide, bringing the party’s total to 30 U.S. governorships. Democrats also took control of governors’ offices in several other longtime Republican strongholds, including Iowa, Georgia, Ohio and Texas.

Kreiss-Tomkins, widely known as JKT, was victorious after making a political comeback three years after leaving the Alaska House of Representatives.

The 37-year-old traveled extensively across the state during his campaign, rallying support around economic concerns and the promise to change the direction of Alaska government.

His agenda centered on tackling affordability, ensuring public education was fully funded, and requiring all oil and gas producers to pay corporate taxes. He also called for a temporary halt to the development of new data centers until state lawmakers establish regulations governing their construction.

Throughout the campaign, Kreiss-Tomkins sharply criticized the leadership of outgoing Republican Governor Mike Dunleavy, arguing that Alaska had become “broken” during his eight years in office.

“Alaskans are hungry for change,” Kreiss-Tomkins said. “We’ve been running the same campaign since we launched in February, and I don’t take anyone’s vote for granted.”

Among his criticisms was the deterioration of the state’s ferry system, which Kreiss-Tomkins said was in disarray while service to many communities was drastically reduced. The ferry system provides a critical transportation link for Southeast Alaska communities that lack road connections, including some with limited access to air transportation.

Despite his criticism of the outgoing administration, Kreiss-Tomkins presented himself as a leader willing to overcome political divisions. He pledged to assemble a cabinet including Democrats, Republicans and independents.

Unlike most states, Alaska allows voters to rank candidates by preference through ranked-choice voting – a system that also allows multiple candidates from the same political party to run against each other.

But Kreiss-Tomkins avoided the need for additional rounds of counting after winning more than 50% of the first-choice votes, ensuring an outright victory.

The Alaska result comes just days after Democrats scored another major gubernatorial victory in staunchly conservative Kansas, where Democratic Sen. Cindy Holscher narrowly defeated Republican Senate President Ty Masterson.

Masterson, who received support from Trump, faced a campaign in which Holscher repeatedly highlighted his ties to the Republican president. At the same time, Holscher said she would remain willing to cooperate with the Trump administration on issues where common ground could be found.

Back-to-back victories in Alaska and Kansas underscore the scale of Democratic gains in what has become a nationwide electoral shift.

The party’s long-awaited “blue wave” has now materialized, with Democrats losing eight seats in the U.S. Senate, gaining more than two dozen seats in the House and significantly expanding their control of governors’ offices following the Nov. 3 midterm elections.

Such progress gave Democrats a strong majority in Congress during the second half of Trump’s second presidency, leading to a major shift in the balance of power in Washington and U.S. state governments.

Meanwhile, with few ballots remaining for Alaska’s midterm US Senate elections, Democrat Mary Peltola was ahead of Republican incumbent Dan S Sullivan on Saturday, Alaska Public Media reported. This prompted MS Now to characterize this Senate race as “leaning Democratic.”

In addition to Alaska and Kansas, the Democratic Party won gubernatorial elections over Republicans in Georgia, Iowa, Nevada, Ohio and Texas, giving them control of a majority of governorships for the first time since 2010. Gina Hinojosa is the first Democrat to be elected governor of Texas in 35 years – and also the state’s first Hispanic governor.

A major factor in the Republican Party’s midterm defeat is the unpopularity of Trump, whom most Republican lawmakers clung to even as polls indicated voters did not support his crackdown on immigration, his tariffs, the war with Iran or his domestic policy bill.