By SUZANNE DOWNING
June 1, 2026 – Former Sitka legislator Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins has selected Anchorage Assemblyman Zac Johnson as his running mate in the 2026 race for governor, giving the Democratic candidate a partner from Alaska’s largest city as he tries to gain traction in an increasingly crowded field.
The Kreiss-Tomkins campaign announced that Johnson, who serves on the Anchorage Assembly, will join the ticket as the candidate for lieutenant governor.
Johnson was elected to the Assembly in 2022 and has aligned with the progressive majority on the Anchorage Assembly. Before entering municipal politics, he worked in the nonprofit sector.
The selection pairs JKT with a nonpartisan with roots in local government and legislative politics. Kreiss-Tomkins represented Sitka and much of Southeast Alaska in the Alaska House from 2013 to 2023, while Johnson has built his political profile in Anchorage municipal government.
The announcement comes as Kreiss-Tomkins continues to promote his campaign as a next-generation Democratic alternative in a gubernatorial field that already includes fellow Democrats Tom Begich and Matt Claman, as well as numerous Republican and independent candidates.
Kreiss-Tomkins entered the race in February and quickly drew attention by reporting fundraising totals that surpassed $1 million within weeks of launching his campaign. Because he entered after an Alaska Public Offices Commission reporting deadline, the identities of many donors behind that fundraising surge have not yet been publicly disclosed.
Campaign filings have also drawn scrutiny because of an unusually large roster of deputy treasurers, including individuals based in New York and others connected to climate-policy organizations, elite universities, and national activist networks.
The former legislator has assembled support from prominent Democrats and members of the bipartisan House and Senate majorities. In May, former Gov. Tony Knowles endorsed Kreiss-Tomkins, calling him a representative of a new generation of leadership.
Kreiss-Tomkins first gained statewide prominence after narrowly defeating longtime Republican Rep. Bill Thomas in 2012. During his legislative career he sponsored legislation recognizing Alaska Native languages as official languages of the state and earned national attention from progressive publications that highlighted his efforts to build Democratic support in a traditionally Republican state.
More recently, Kreiss-Tomkins faced criticism from conservatives over his role as a co-founder of Covid Act Now, a pandemic-era modeling organization whose projections became influential with policymakers but were later criticized for overestimating the impacts of Covid-19.
The Kreiss-Tomkins-Johnson ticket enters a governor’s race that has swelled to nearly two dozen candidates who have filed paperwork or signaled their intention to run. Under Alaska’s open primary and ranked-choice voting system, candidates are competing not only for first-choice support but also for crossover appeal that could help them advance through the August primary and November general election.
While Kreiss-Tomkins has accumulated endorsements and fundraising at a rapid pace, public polling so far has shown him struggling to break out of the single digits statewide.
One thought on “Kreiss-Tomkins picks Anchorage Assemblyman for running mate”
I hope all of the republicans who blindly voted for Zac Johnson in the recent election can now see what he stands for. Obviously, nothing remotely aligned with conservatives – or even RINOs for that matter. As a co-sponsor of the tranny day of remembrance, one would think THAT would have been enough vote him out. Now, Zac completely removes the veil to expose his true colors. One visit to JKT’s web site will show the all-star lineup of Anchorage’s finest progressives from the Assembly that Zac consistently voted with. It’s disappointing that our side is the one that exhibits the apathy and unwillingness to research who in the hell they’re voting for. This city turns blue while we sit at home saying “Thank you. May I have another?”