By SUZANNE DOWNING
Aug. 28, 2026 – The Alaska Division of Elections posted what is believed to be its final scheduled ballot count Friday evening, confirming the four apparent finalists for governor while tightening several closely watched races further down the ballot.
The results remain unofficial and are scheduled to be certified Monday, Aug. 31. The Division reported 166,853 voters participating, for a statewide turnout of 27.72%.
Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins finished first in the 17-candidate race for governor, receiving 36,961 votes, or 22.52%.
Democrat Tom Begich remained in second place with 34,149 votes, or 20.80%.
Republican Bernadette Wilson finished as the top Republican and third-place candidate overall, receiving 16,456 votes, or 10.02%. Former Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson held onto fourth place with 13,349 votes, or 8.13%.
Republican Treg Taylor finished fifth with 11,924 votes, or 7.26%, widening his advantage over former state Sen. Click Bishop. Bishop finished sixth with 11,509 votes, or 7.01%, a difference of 415 votes.
Taylor gained ground during the later absentee counts but did not come close enough to overtake Bronson for the fourth position. He finished 1,425 votes behind Bronson.
Republican Adam Crum finished seventh with 8,914 votes, narrowly ahead of Republican Shelley Hughes, who received 8,776. Former Gov. Bill Walker received 7,333 votes.
The four apparent finalists are therefore Kreiss-Tomkins, Tom Begich, Wilson and Bronson, although candidates have until the close of business Monday to withdraw from the November ballot. If one of the four withdraws, the next eligible candidate moves up.
The combined vote for Kreiss-Tomkins and Tom Begich was 71,110, or 43.32% of all votes cast in the governor’s contest.
In the US Senate race, Democrat Mary Peltola finished just short of 50%, receiving 82,165 votes, or 49.54%. Republican incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan received 68,684 votes, or 41.41%.
The other Dan Sullivan, Decoy Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., who has no party designation on the election report, finished a distant third with 4,098 votes, or 2.47%.
Democrat David Leslie held fourth place with 1,845 votes, finishing 104 votes ahead of Republican Gerald Heikes, who received 1,741. Leslie’s edge had been only 17 votes earlier in the count, but he expanded it as the remaining ballots were processed.
Unless there is a withdrawal or successful challenge, the November Senate ballot will include Peltola, Sen. Dan Sullivan, Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. and Leslie.
In the race for Alaska’s US House seat, Republican incumbent Congressman Nick Begich finished first with 72,627 votes, or 44.63%. Nonpartisan candidate Bill Hill received 52,939 votes, or 32.53%.
Democrat Matt Schultz remained third in the numerical results with 13,133 votes, or 8.07%, followed by Democrat Eric Hafner with 6,161 votes, or 3.79%.
Schultz has already withdrawn from the general election, however, which would move Democrat John Williams into the fourth position. Williams received 4,404 votes, while Republican Clay Strickland finished behind him with 3,684.
No legislative contest appears to have experienced a change in the identity of its first-place candidate during the final count, although several races remain close.
In Anchorage House District 11, Republican Rep. Julie Coulombe finished only 55 votes ahead of Democrat Danni Hall. Coulombe received 2,426 votes, or 50.57%, while Hall received 2,371, or 49.43%.
In House District 15, Democrat Denny Wells maintained his lead over Republican Mia Costello. Wells finished with 2,351 votes, or 52.74%, compared with Costello’s 2,107 votes, or 47.26%.
In House District 28, Republican Elexie Moore held first place with 1,209 votes, followed closely by Republican Stephen Wright with 1,126. Democrat Kathleen “Kit” Kennedy received 1,018, while Republican Evan Bordenkircher received 207. Bordenkircher has already official withdrawn.
House District 33 also remained competitive. Republican Rep. Mike Prax finished first with 1,339 votes, Republican Barbara Haney was second with 1,234, and independent Pepper McFarland received 1,043.
Two rural precincts still had not reported when the final scheduled update was published. The report showed 401 of 403 statewide precincts reporting. Both missing precincts are in House District 38, which also affects Senate District S.
In House District 38, Democrat CJ McCormick led with 528 votes, followed by Democrat incumbent Rep. Nellie Jimmie with 478, Republican Willy Keppel with 398 and nonpartisan candidate Joseph Amik with 242. All four would advance under the current results.
In Senate District S, independent Bryce Edgmon remained in first with 1,474 votes. Republican Darren Deacon was second with 928, Democrat Wassilie Guy third with 736 and nonpartisan candidate Rick Robb fourth with 446. Independent Wayne Morgan trailed with 309.
The Division’s report is labeled “unofficial results.” The State Review Board is completing its review ahead of Monday’s target certification date, which is also the deadline for candidates to withdraw from the Nov. 3 general election.
The complete final election summary report is available from the Alaska Division of Elections.
8 thoughts on “Final primary count: JKT holds lead, Taylor widens edge over Bishop as Alaska awaits certification”
Ok, the republicans in the governors race who didn’t get first place need to close ranks around the Wilson/Showers ticket and all drop out. Even if it means dems move into 3rd and 4th they’ll just take away votes from Tinker Bell from Sitka.
Watch out for Bernadette Wilson. Her personal lifestyle choices are less than epic. Do a quick google search and see for yourself.
And here it comes. Note that we Republicans settled the question of messy personal lives twice in the last decade – Trump 2016 and Trump 2026. Been there. Done that. And our candidate won 3 times (yes, I am counting 2020).
You might want to ask Candidate Bronson why his word on dropping out no longer matters. Should be a fun discussion. Cheers –
I don’t approve of trumps background. I voted for Trump because I had no other option. Here I have an option. I personally wont be ranking the red. You do you. I just dont want a governor who is willing to be with Democrat in her personal life. Thats just me. Conservatism runs in my blood. It doesn’t get set aside for a “fun” bedroom experience. But glad you feel differently. Maybe I will regret my decision if/when JKT wins.
[…] Final primary count: JKT holds lead, Taylor widens edge over Bishop as Alaska awaits certification […]
Get ready for the increase in taxes and loss of the rest of your PFD for all if the upcoming spending after the election.
[…] Final primary count: JKT holds lead, Taylor widens edge over Bishop as Alaska awaits certification […]
I find it interesting that Suzanne is pushing hard for people to be angry at Bronson for not dropping out of the Alaska Governor race and is pushing Bernadette Wilson hard. Bernadette was one of the originators of the second try to repeal Alaska’s Ranked Choice Voting, so she should be knowledgeable on how RCV works…right? Don’t you think she’d correct her buddy Suzanne on how RCV works, instead of allowing Suzanne to be constantly putting out misinformation about how RCV works?
For your information:
RCV doesn’t split the vote – it carries it to the next upper choice that you ranked. I’ll use the governor race as an example:
First choice: Bronson
Second choice: Wilson
Third choice: whatever Republican got moved up after Begich had suspended (dropped out?) of the race.
Other candidate is the democrat.
As the initial votes are counted, the candidate with the least amount of votes at the end of round one is removed (my third choice) and those votes from that candidate are applied to Wilson’s count.
Next round of counts begin. If Wilson does not get as many votes as Bronson, then Wilson is removed from the race and all of her votes go to Bronson and increases his votes from his original count.
Bronson’s votes would be compared with the democrat’s counts to see who won the race. Hopefully, Bronson the Republican won, in part thanks to the vote being carried from the third candidate, through the second candidate and added to Bronson’s count.