Alaska Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tom Begich dropped his bid to be the state’s next governor on Friday, endorsing the only other Democrat in the four-person general election race.
Begich, who finished second among the top four candidates in Alaska’s open gubernatorial primary, cited his reason for dropping out as a lack of sufficient fundraising and the available opportunity to coalesce Democratic voters around a single candidate. With Begich dropping from the race, it leaves Democratic former State Rep. Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, who finished in first place in the open primary, as the sole Democratic candidate left to face off against Republicans Bernadette Wilson and Dave Bronson.
“When so many Alaskans are already stretched thin, we cannot keep asking them to give more and more just to compete with much larger amounts of money flowing into politics in Alaska. Running this campaign through November would take millions more than we have,” Begich said in a video message.
“We’ve spoken with the other leading Democrat in this race. He shared data, and we’ve reviewed our own internal information. And the data we’ve seen makes clear that the strongest path to winning in November is not two Democratic candidates competing for the same donors and resources. It’s bringing those people together behind one ticket,” Begich continued.
Begich and his running mate, former Biden administration official Julia Hnilicka, endorsed Kreiss-Tomkins in the message, with Hnilicka saying “stakes are too high to ignore this reality.”
Kreiss-Tomkins will now be the only Democrat running against Republicans Wilson and Bronson, setting up a split of the Republican vote while Democrats have one ticket to choose.
In the Aug. 18 primary, Kreiss-Tomkins won 22.5% of the vote, Begich won 20.8% of the vote, Wilson won 10% of the vote, and Bronson won 8.1% of the vote. There were about 10 other GOP candidates who ran in the primary and three independents, while Kreiss-Tomkins and Begich were the only Democrats.
When Wilson earned the top GOP spot in the open primary, she wrote on X, calling for unity under the Republican ticket as well.
“With 12 hardworking and qualified Republican candidates, coming in first place took a tremendous effort that’s now paid off. It’s time for our party to unite and focus on stopping the far left from turning Alaska into California. Our state can rise again, but it’s going to take common sense conservative leadership from outside the stale bureaucratic system – and that’s what I’m offering to voters in November,” Wilson said.
In an Aug. 26 statement, Bronson and his running mate, Josh Church, announced that they are staying in the race as they’re 8.1% of the vote, “combined with the other Republican candidates who ran for governor, represent roughly 80 percent of the Republican primary vote.”
“We hear the calls for unity, and we are answering them. We are staying in this race because we believe Alaskans deserve a choice, and we believe there is a winning coalition of conservatives, Republicans, Independents, and nonpartisan Alaskans who want proven leadership, responsible resource development, smaller government, and a governor who will put Alaska first,” Bronson said, before Begich dropped from the race.
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The election is being held to replace term-limited Gov. Mike Dunleavy (R-AK), a Republican who won with 50.3% of the vote in 2022 against one other Republican, one Democrat, and one Independent.
As of April 2026, Cook Political Report rated the seat Likely Republican.