In 2012, Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins dropped out of college to run for a seat in his Southeast Alaska House district based on his belief that lawmakers had been too generous with the way oil companies were taxed. Kreiss-Tomkins won, beating out the Republican incumbent that year by a razor-thin margin, and went on to spend a decade representing his district in the Alaska Legislature.
After a two-year hiatus working with a national science and technology policymaking group, Kreiss-Tomkins is vying for a shot at becoming Alaska’s next governor. He’s one of three Democrats running against a dozen Republicans and two independents in the 2026 race to replace Gov. Mike Dunleavy.
Kreiss-Tomkins said that his campaign has raised a little more than $900,000 since he entered the race in February, but he has yet to officially report his contributions. The next highest Democratic fundraiser, former state Sen. Tom Begich, had raised $350,000 as of the first round of fundraising reports released in mid-February. The top Republican fundraiser, Matt Heilala, had contributed nearly $1.3 million to his own campaign.
Kreiss-Tomkins recently visited Bethel on the campaign trail, where he spoke with KYUK’s Evan Erickson about the ways that his priorities as a candidate for governor are a continuation of the key issues he fought for as a state representative.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
KYUK (Evan Erickson): What brings you to Bethel at this point in your campaign?
Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins: Well, I'm from Sitka. I was born and raised in Sitka, and it's really important to me to be running a campaign that really represents rural Alaska and all parts of the state. Outside the railbelt and in Southeast Alaska, sometimes we get forgotten over there in our island communities. And I really want to make sure to cover every corner of the state through the course of this campaign. So it felt important to me to get out to the [Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta] early and also often, which is the plan for the rest of the year.
KYUK: What kind of ideas are floating around in your head about policies the state could maybe have a positive impact [with] on the many issues facing the [Yukon-Kuskokwim] Delta?
Kreiss-Tomkins: One of the key things on my mind is the cost of living, and the ability for people in rural Alaska to be able to make, you know, have a living, and be able to get by. And I think that's, you know, it's true everywhere, but it's, of course, massively, massively more a factor out here and in other rural parts of Alaska, and that's a really major concern for me.
I think there's a lot of state services and programs that are important to rural Alaska. I mean, we're in KYUK studios right now. When I was in the legislature, fighting for support for public broadcasting was something really important to me. But sort of down the list, these state programs that sort of make life more equitable in Alaska, both in urban and rural areas, is something that's really important to me, a lot of time spent talking about fisheries and how the state should be playing, I think, much more of a leadership role around fisheries management, and specifically the North Pacific Fishery Management Council. I mean, that was something that was really important to me in Sitka, because we have a lot of subsistence fishermen and small boat commercial fishermen, and so the impacts from the trawl fleet were really front of mind for me with my old district. And certainly getting the perspective from Western Alaska, where the impacts are that much greater, has been another major issue that's front of mind for me.
KYUK: If you were elected, you would influence federal fishery policy by nominating members to the North Pacific Fishery Management Council. What are your goals for federal management of fisheries in Alaska?
Kreiss-Tomkins: My primary goal for the North Pacific [Fishery Management] Council is to make sure that the members coming from Alaska, who the governor nominates, who I would nominate if I were governor, have Alaska's interests at heart. And I spent years going to council meetings. I think I was often the only legislator out of the 60 in Juneau who would go to North Pacific [Fishery Management] Council meetings. Because up until the last year or two, it's this obscure body, but it's incredibly powerful, and the decisions that they make affect all of Alaska.
And I was as a legislator, and I still am very frustrated that the council members, especially the six that come from Alaska, there's the others from Washington and Oregon, and I think that's a little bit of a different situation, although I still disagree with some of their votes and policy perspectives, but especially the six members from Alaska should have the interests of Alaska subsistence, you know, subsistence in Alaska and in the commercial fisheries fleets that are home ported in Alaska, not in Seattle, not in Newport, Oregon, but in Alaska, in Sitka and Seward and Homer and Ketchikan and our Alaska communities. And I often felt like the council was making decisions with the interests of Seattle first in mind. And that was really frustrating to me. And so I would go to council meetings and testify. I would author, sign on letters, and having sort of been in the trenches at the council for years and years, I'm very motivated to make sure that there's council nominations and representation that care about communities like Bethel and villages up and down the Kuskokwim.
KYUK: How do you square the fisheries needs of the smaller vessel commercial sector in Southeast with the very different needs of the subsistence communities on the Kuskokwim and on the Yukon that are in [a] dire situation with salmon crashes.
Kreiss-Tomkins: The interests, I think, are basically one and the same. There's no daylight between them, because the small boat commercial fleet in Southeast Alaska, the gillnetters, the seiners, the trollers, they're harvesting specific species of fish. And if those salmon or halibut are scooped up by trawlers in the Gulf of Alaska or the Bering Sea, they never make it to the inside waters of Southeast Alaska to be caught, whether it's for subsistence or for commercial. And so there's really complete alignment there. And so when I would go to council meetings and testify and advocate … I, Tlingit Haida Central Council, [the Association of Village Council Presidents], Tanana Chiefs [Conference], we all have the exact same agenda, which is to try to conserve the resource so it can reach Alaskans. And I think that kind of conservation approach and to protect the resource and so Alaskans can actually be able to harvest these fish is incredibly important to me.
KYUK: I saw a quote from you that Alaska is living and dying by the price of oil. Where can the state look for new revenue?
Kreiss-Tomkins: I feel really strongly Alaska should be getting its fair share from our oil resource. And that was actually the issue that prompted me to drop out of college in 2012 and run for the legislature, as the legislature had made an attempt to cut oil taxes in a way that I felt was too generous to the oil companies and didn't represent Alaskans’ interests in getting our fair share from our oil resource. And I dropped out of college, and I ran against this long-term incumbent who had voted to cut those oil taxes, and I beat them, and I felt confident that the people of my district disagreed with him and shared the concern that I had, and ultimately they expressed that at that ballot box.
And that's how I won in 2012, and that continues to be a major issue in Alaska. And the fact that right now, one of our major oil producers, Hilcorp, is not paying corporate income tax, I think, is [in]defensible. And that's a couple hundred million dollars a year in foregone revenue. I think we need to sort of examine those questions and try to make sure that the state has a broader base of revenue. So it's not our schools and our other core services that are paying the price.
KYUK: What would be your pitch for an Alaskan who voted for Dunleavy?
Kreiss-Tomkins: You look at the polling data, I think there's in the polling data, a lot of Alaskans who voted for Dunleavy who aren't that happy with how things are going right now in Alaska. You know, unfortunately, in the polling data, he's the most unpopular governor in the country right now, and I think his approval rating is, like, 15 points underwater. So I think a lot of people, at least people I've spoken with, there are a lot of people who voted for Dunleavy and voted for me as a legislator on the same ballot. There are a lot of people who voted for Donald Trump and voted for me as a legislator on the same ballot. So I'm familiar with these different perspectives. I think a lot of people were looking for change, and things weren't working for them very well. And I empathize with that, and in many ways I agree with that. I think the prescription for change that got voted in in the form of Dunleavy wasn't for the best, arguably. But I think that sort of underlying sentiment that things need to go differently in many ways, I hope to offer that very different approach than Dunleavy, but I think that sort of recognition that there are problems is something that I agree with.
KYUK: What, in your opinion, can the state do to facilitate rebuild efforts and potential relocation for the communities hit hardest by ex-typhoon Halong who are displaced here in Bethel, in other villages, and then, obviously, hundreds in Anchorage with no idea what comes next?
Kreiss-Tomkins: The state should be the number one advocate for making sure that we get the federal funds and resources to be able to provide for recovery efforts. And in many ways, that's, you know, the federal government has that role. They have the resources, and the state should be a zealous advocate to make sure that those resources make their way to the villages and families that are affected. I think there's a lot of sort of coordination ability. I think, in many regards, the state undervalues the value that tribes can bring and working together with the tribes in the [Yukon-Kuskokwim] Delta and with [the Association of Village Council Presidents], I think is another role the state can play, again to sort of coordinate response.
KYUK: What role do you believe the governor should play on climate change, and do you have any plans in that regard?
Kreiss-Tomkins: Climate change is real, and I think the state having that perspective, that clear eyed, factual perspective, I think, is really important, just for starters. Ultimately, something that I think Alaska, really all the world, should be working towards is a transition to cleaner and renewable sources of energy. I mean, there's pragmatic and sort of economic limitations on how fast that can happen. But I think that's a north star for sure, and in terms of the climate changing, sea level rise, increased intensity of storms, the state needs to be realistic about that all happening.
KYUK: You've spoken about reforming the way that public education is funded by the state. What do you think you have a chance to change if elected?
Kreiss-Tomkins: I think forward funding education is incredibly important, and so that's the timing question. Right now, as any school board member in Alaska knows, [the Lower Kuskokwim School District] or any other district, you're kind of waiting and guessing what number is going to come out of Juneau for education funding until the very last minute. And even then, after the legislature adjourns, you're waiting and guessing how much the governor may or may not line item veto. And so you're kind of on eggshells until the very end.
All the while, you're trying to finalize your budget for the next year for the school district, and the largest single source of funding, which is state funding, is a big fat question mark, and that just makes no sense at all. And so as a result, our school districts are left to create all these contingency budgets trying to guess what the state number is going to be, whether it's going to be high, or medium, or low, or super low. And in each of those different budget versions, you're having to lay off a certain number of teachers or not. And so people, teachers, other school staff, get prospectively laid off and fired because of this whole guessing game.
So it's just a bananas way to budget, and I feel really strongly that the state should look to lock in education funding at an earlier date, so you're not having this guessing game that leads to people getting sort of anticipatorily laid off and pink slipped by districts in terms of the amount of funding. I think it's really important that the state inflation proof education funding. And we do that with every other service and every other agency in the state budget, but education has sort of weirdly become exempt from that, and I think we need to change that.
KYUK: There's a lot of schools in this region that are languishing on the state's major maintenance list. How would you begin to tackle the issue of schools languishing on this maintenance list?
Kreiss-Tomkins: The state has a constitutional obligation to make sure our schools are safe and well maintained, and I think there's good reason to believe that is not the case right now. And by hook or by crook, the state needs to do right by our kids, including kids in rural Alaska. Ultimately, it's a question of money and it's a question of priorities. And for me, education is one of the state's most important priorities. There needs to be meaningful capital funding every year for deferred maintenance of schools, including rural Alaska, and [Regional Education Attendance Areas] should be in bond packages if necessary. And ultimately, this all kind of circles back to the revenue question. And in order to be able to fund this, we need to make sure we have revenues. And I think it's important that the state get its fair share of oil, which unfortunately, since the passage of the oil tax cuts in 2013, I don't think it's been the case for the state.
KYUK: If elected, would you break the recent trend and live full-time in Juneau?
Kreiss-Tomkins: I think so. Yeah, I'm, I'm from Southeast, and I think it's healthy that you have important institutions in Alaska that are not all in Anchorage, that you have the university flagship in Fairbanks, that you have the capital in Juneau. And yeah, I think it makes sense for the governor to be in the capitol.
KYUK: Is there anything else you want to include?
Kreiss-Tomkins: I think the one other thing to add is one of the major priorities for me as a legislator were Alaska Native languages, and I passed legislation that made Alaska's 21 Native languages official languages of the state, and also worked really closely to change the laws around teacher licensure so that speakers of Native languages could more easily teach in the K-12 classroom. And previously, the teacher licensing rules made it very difficult for fluent speakers of Native languages to teach their language, which to me seemed like a huge problem. And so we were able to get a bill passed in my last term that changed that.
But more generally, that's been an issue that's been near and dear to me from when I was in college. I took Tlingit language classes, coming from Southeast. It's Tlingit territory, and I think the state should be a partner and sort of celebrating the incredible cultural heritage of Native people here and help not just preserve Native languages, but revitalize them and make them vibrant and present in our communities. And in many ways, it's such a privilege to be in Bethel and the [Yukon-Kuskokwim] Delta, because I think here, maybe more than anywhere else in Alaska, that's true. And I think that's a model for Alaska. And as governor, I would really like to see that continue to grow and succeed, including in all regions of Alaska and all Alaska Native languages.
