Screenshot from Debate for the State YouTube video.
By SUZANNE DOWNING
Oct. 9, 2026 – Bernadette Wilson delivered the most sustained confrontation with Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins during Thursday night’s Debate for the State, challenging his record on income taxes and energy policy, while fellow Republican Dave Bronson repeatedly praised the Democrat and even argued that compromise is necessary to get a gasline.
The Oct. 8 debate, presented by Alaska Public Media, Alaska’s News Source/KTUU and KTOO, featured Wilson, Bronson, former Attorney General Treg Taylor and Kreiss-Tomkins.
Three Republicans are competing against one Democrat for the governor’s seat, a situation President Donald Trump criticized Thursday as he questioned the wisdom of the divided Republican field and attacked Alaska’s ranked-choice voting system.
The debate revealed another division: How aggressively should Republicans challenge the Democrat seeking to succeed Gov. Mike Dunleavy?
Taylor briefly challenged Kreiss-Tomkins on taxes during the opening budget discussion. Wilson returned to the Democrat’s record throughout the debate’s closing exchanges. Bronson, meanwhile, emphasized his personal rapport with Kreiss-Tomkins and their shared belief in compromise.
Asked how he would work with people on the other side of the political divide, Bronson described getting to know Kreiss-Tomkins over coffee on the campaign trail. He presented their relationship as an example of cooperation despite their ideological differences. Later, in his closing remarks, Bronson again praised Kreiss-Tomkins personally while acknowledging that they approach their objectives from different political perspectives.
Wilson took a different approach, questioning whether the bipartisan arrangements already operating in Juneau had produced better results for Alaskans.
“You’ve had bipartisan coalitions in the House and in the Senate,” Wilson said. “How has that worked for you, Alaska? Are you any better off today than you were 10, 20 or 30 years ago?”
She accused her opponents of being more interested in “singing Kumbaya” than confronting the policies she believes are holding Alaska back.
Bronson used a rebuttal to answer Wilson.
“We haven’t been going down there and singing Kumbaya. That’s the point,” he said. “The governor and the Legislature have not been getting along down there. And Jonathan and I, opposite sides of the political spectrum, agree you still need to go down there and work with the other. Everyone’s tired of this fighting and this screaming and hollering at each other. As am I.”
Bronson then linked compromise directly to development:
“When you don’t compromise, you don’t get a gas line.”
Bronson’s remark was yet another criticism of Gov. Mike Dunleavy, someone who he has criticized publicly many times over the past few months. But it overlooked the governor’s repeated concessions in an effort to secure gasline legislation. As The Alaska Story has documented, Dunleavy offered compromises after compromises and still could not get the Legislature to pass a deal, a reminder that compromise requires movement from both sides.
Bronson made the same argument about roads to resources, blaming political fighting for the stalemate. Wilson immediately countered that electing a Democrat would jeopardize the gasline and pledged to fight an income tax rather than concede before the battle began.
Bronson’s conciliatory posture drew a mocking response from the Alaska Democratic Party, which posted on X:
“Is Dave MAGA Bootlick Bronson going to rank JKT?????”
The party’s question was a taunt that revealed how conspicuous Bronson’s kid-gloves treatment of Kreiss-Tomkins had become. But Bronson’s strategy may actually have been to try to win second-place rankings from JKT voters.
Wilson’s criticism centered on records voters could examine.
She pointed to Kreiss-Tomkins’ 2017 vote for a state income tax and the significance he attached to it at the time.
“I think this is one of the most important votes that I or the other members will ever cast,” Kreiss-Tomkins said, according to the Peninsula Clarion report Wilson referenced.
The House approved that proposal 22–17, with the Democratic-led majority supporting it and the Republican minority opposing it. The proposal did not become law.
Wilson also cited an April 21, 2021 letter Kreiss-Tomkins signed urging congressional leaders to pursue a national clean-energy agenda with 100% “clean energy.”
Addressed to then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the other congressional leaders, the letter called for an economic recovery package that would:
“Put the U.S. on the path to 100% clean energy powering everything from our electricity grid, transportation, and buildings with reliable, affordable clean energy.”
The document lists Kreiss-Tomkins among its Alaska signatories. It applauded President Joe Biden’s COVID relief package and advocated additional investment in clean energy, infrastructure and manufacturing.
Wilson described the letter as support for “100% renewables.” The document’s actual wording is “100% clean energy,” a distinction worth preserving when assessing the record.
Taylor also drew a direct contrast with Kreiss-Tomkins. In the opening fiscal discussion, he criticized JKT’s support for additional taxes and argued that Alaska should grow its economy and tax base through resource development. Later, Taylor emphasized his experience working across party lines as attorney general.
Kreiss-Tomkins defended compromise and portrayed Wilson as a continuation of Dunleavy’s approach, arguing that Alaska needed a more cooperative relationship between the governor and Legislature.
The exchanges unfolded against the larger Republican concern Trump raised Thursday: Democrats have consolidated behind Kreiss-Tomkins, while three Republicans remain on the general-election ballot.
Democrat Tom Begich withdrew and endorsed Kreiss-Tomkins after the primary. Wilson, Bronson and Taylor continue to compete for Republican first-choice votes, leaving later-round consolidation dependent on how voters rank their ballots.
As The Alaska Story reported Thursday, Trump questioned the sanity of that arrangement and condemned the ranked-choice system governing the race.
Thursday’s debate put the candidates’ different approaches on display. Taylor challenged JKT’s tax agenda. Bronson stressed cooperation with him. Wilson repeatedly brought the discussion back to the Democrat’s record, and whether singing Kumbaya on those policies would really serve Alaska.
24 thoughts on “Wilson presses JKT’s record at governor debate as Bronson praises Democrat, urges compromise”
I am not impressed with Bronson’s quotes. Weak.
Bronson has turned into a f*cking idiot. A low end candidate who apparently is too timid to stand up to the little faggot boy from Sitka. Is Bronson a closeted homo too? I’m done with Dave Bronson, He gets no ranking from me.
I am not a fan of Bronson’s either, but rank all the r’s or we will get the homosexual from Sitka.
Instead rank Bronson last. I am.
Agree with Micah. BTW, did a search on JKT’s family. He has one brother named David Kreiss-Tomkins. He is a librarian at the Anchorage public library and also a ballet dancer. Sure looks like that Sitka family raises feminine boys.
Bronson’s name is still on the ballot since he did not drop out. It appears his angle is to get leftists/left leaning independents to rank him second after JKT while Republicans/conservatives rank him in their 3 RCV choices(Wilson, Bronson, Taylor). Does he see this as a path to victory? Not sure what the man is thinking but it makes me regret donating to his campaign(one time). Either way his pandering to the communist homosexual JKT who, if elected as governor, will destroy the red state of AK was 🤢🤮
Jen, while your notion of Bronson’s motives for pandering to progressives may be true, such pandering is utterly misplaced. JKT will be the leader in this election until the final tally. Depending upon how conservatives rank the candidates, he’ll always be the leader in this race. At this point, I believe Bronson’s ‘Hail Mary’ just became a “Hell, Mary! WTF are you thinking?!?!?!”
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I anticipate receipt of my absentee ballot soon. In this race, it’s going to be Wilson, Taylor, Bronson. David has shot himself in the foot in a serious way. Note: I was W,B,T until this event.
1) Bronson
2) Taylor
3) Debt
Thank you for sharing your double-digit IQ with the readership here.
Wilson
Taylor
Click (write-in)
Here we go again. I support the ideology of Trump and most conservatives. I reject the ideology of all communists calling themselves different labels such as Democrat, etc. That said, I disagree with Republican’s complaints about rank choice voting. Ask yourself, why do Democrats like RCV? Perhaps its because they are smarter and more disciplined. Recall that RCV candidates Al Gross and Tom Begich deftly withdrew their candidacies in order to support the Democrat who won more votes. The problem is not RCV. Rather, it is the retardation and lack of discipline of the Republican party. Conservatives are too stupid to play RCV to their advantage; they deserve to lose.
Wayne, I think you MIGHT agree that the REAL problem is the jungle primary. I say, the party’s should choose their own candidates: Rs, Ds, Ls, AIPs, etc. THEN let those winners, whom the parties have clearly endorsed, run in the RCV general election.
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Unfortunately, that’s not what we have. Sadly, too many people fail to understand the true problem with RCV. Multiple candidates in the same party taking votes from each other in a population that grew up with ‘one person, one vote.’ It’s generational. It will take a generation to cure.
Damien, please think. The parties, as private entities, are fully entitled and capable of holding their own private party primaries. What you seem to be proposing is for the government to continue holding private party primaries to be paid by taxpayers. In a nutshell, should Libertarian Party members be required to help pay for a Republican primary which appears to be a private party activity?
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I say let the parties (private entities) conduct their own primaries at their own cost. Any party too weak or stupid to pull it off is likely not a viable party to begin with.
Brother Wayne, your comment shows you listen to others quite well….” It’s generational. It will take a generation to cure.” Now read this while ““singing Kumbaya” …”Round Two (and beyond):
The candidate with the fewest votes gets eliminated. If you voted for that candidate, your vote goes to your next choice and you still have a say in who wins.” ! RANKING IS KUMBAYA Brother Wayne . Liberty Ed
Bronson doesn’t understand rank voting, he is very clearly going for JKT’s sloppy seconds. If Bronson gets JKT’s sloppy seconds it means JKT is out of the race, the likelihood that JKT is out of the ranking before all two of the three of the Republicans is nil. That means Bronson never gets to use JKT’s sloppy seconds. Bronson did himself no favors whatsoever, he likely lost support. I had Taylor as my 3rd place rank but he moved up above Bronson. Wilson was sharp, knew answers to difficult issues, and responded when challenged…she had a very good showing.
I did like the rank Republicans 1, 2, 3 or get JKT line that Bronson said, it got a laugh even when he hugged his new BFF.
Wilson has a history of lawsuits filed against Denali disposal and Bernadette Wilson in 2019 and another in 2022 in Alaska State Court System for failure to pay debts. So those businesses suffer from loss of money. Her dividend check garnished.
Wilson is not a good business person.
Not qualified to be Alaska Governor.
Bronson
Taylor
Debt
3rdGenAK,
You aren’t qualified to be commenting at Alaska Story.
Weren’t you a Walker supporter before he was laughed out of Alaska?
Quit fooling yourselves., everyone knows that no candidate will win 50 plus one in the first round . So one more time, rank the red. Think for yourselves, quit following the editor all the time, it’s so unhealthy. Look at the facts, she skipped out on paying off debt causing businesses to eat it, that’s so wrong!
Good thing we don’t have debtors prison.
Donald Trump has had more lawsuits filed against him than any living human on the planet which has nothing to do with his ability to be a leader. Ever since I can remember as a teen learning about national debt and hearing stories about a replacement toilet seat costing the military triple digits I came to the conclusion we need to elect a sharp business person for president and not a politician.
Wally Hickel was a leader with a vision that moved Alaska forward and after watching Wilson step up to the plate and call out the marxist ASSembly as well as the naked mayor for their cruel lockdowns I will place my bet on Wilson to protect my childrens/grandchildrens future in this once great state.
You can bet on your dark horse Murky and Bronson with everything you have and we will see how the queer from Sitka steers the Titanic.
First, I wasn’t going to rank anyone past Wilson, then I was warming up to ranking Wilson, Treg, Bronson. Now I’ll just being ranking Wilson then Tregg, Bronson can take a long walk on a short pier, he will never earn my vote, no matter he runs for.
Can’t argue with your conclusion.
Just remember that only ranking Wilson and Trey is helping the dipstick from Sitka. I don’t like Treg or Bronson, but will mark them 2nd and 3rd just the try to interrupt a demiRat from winning.
It cant hurt to rank bronson last as that will end up being a counted vote for Wilson.
Win win win Wilson in the end of counting . Only chance of keeping the the queer in Sitka.
[…] The interview adds another dimension to the behavior The Alaska Story documented during Thursday’s debate. […]