Alaska has picked a Democrat to run the state for the first time in almost three decades. Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, a 37-year-old former state representative from the island town of Sitka, was projected the winner late Friday after more than a week of counting mailed ballots and votes from remote corners of the state. He will be the youngest governor in Alaska history and next year the youngest sitting governor in the nation.

Kreiss-Tomkins, known around the state simply as JKT, will replace Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy, who has held office since 2018 and is barred from another term. The last Democrat to win the job was Tony Knowles, who was reelected in 1998. Kreiss-Tomkins is scheduled to take the oath at noon on Dec. 7.

He topped half of the first-choice vote, which means the ranked choice tally never came into play. That point matters in Alaska, where skeptics had argued a Democrat could only win because three Republicans were carving up the conservative vote. Business owner Bernadette Wilson, who carried the president's endorsement, came in a distant second with under 30 percent. Former Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson and former Attorney General Treg Taylor finished farther back.

A campaign pitched to the middle

Kreiss-Tomkins sold himself as a problem solver who would fill his administration with Democrats, Republicans and independents. Three former governors from three different camps backed him. So did Republican U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who endorsed him a week before Election Day and praised his fresh energy and common sense.

His platform focused on more money for public schools, lower energy costs, a broader Medicaid program and protection for the state's fisheries. He also called for a pause on new data centers until lawmakers write rules for them. He said he would not let them get help with their power bills. Before casting his ballot in Anchorage he said Alaskans mostly want government to function and people to cooperate.

The job he inherits is a hard one. Flat state funding and rising costs have closed schools and swollen class sizes. Prices for groceries, fuel and housing keep climbing. A coming shortfall of easy-to-reach natural gas near the biggest cities threatens to lift heating bills even more, while more people have moved out of Alaska than in for over a decade.

Ranked choice voting survives again

Voters also rejected a ballot measure that would have thrown out the state's open primaries and ranked choice general elections. It was the second try at repeal in two years. In the latest count the no side held about 53 percent. Alaskans first approved the system by a slim margin in 2020 and used it for the first time in 2022.

The result caps a strong midterm for Democrats in state capitols. The party will control 30 governor's offices next year, up from 24, after taking over in places such as Iowa, Georgia, Ohio and Texas.

Alaska's count is not done. Ballots mailed from overseas can still arrive through Nov. 18, the final day of tallying. The U.S. Senate race between Democrat Mary Peltola and Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan has not been called. Peltola leads but sits just short of a majority, so that contest could go to a ranked choice tabulation.