Million-dollar mystery: Sitka Democrat JKT surges past $1 million, but where’s the money coming from?

By SUZANNE DOWNING

Just weeks after saying he had already raised more than half a million dollars, and doing so evading Alaska’s disclosure deadline, Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins now says his campaign has crossed the $1 million mark in less than 50 days. The speed of the fundraising can’t be dismissed. Neither can what remains unknown: Where much of the money is coming from.

In a campaign release issued from Thursday, Kreiss-Tomkins announced he had reached “over $1,000,000,” calling it the fastest any non-self-funding gubernatorial candidate in Alaska history has hit that milestone. The campaign framed the fundraising as proof of statewide momentum and a “broad coalition of supporters,” but with the most recent disclosure deadline already behind him, voters will not see a full accounting of donors until the next required filing in July.

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That gap is notable in a Democratic field that includes Tom Begich, and and Matt Claman — along with nominal Republican Click Bishop, who draws support from organized labor and overlaps with the same center-left voter coalition. Now there’s Meda DeWitt, Jessica Faircloth, and Gregg Brelsford, who are no-party candidates crowding the Democrat lane, With multiple candidates competing for similar constituencies, early money, particularly seven-figure money, could shape the race quickly.

Of course, it’s important to note that Republicans Matt Heilala and Treg Taylor are planning to put at least that much of their own money into their campaigns.

Kreiss-Tomkins’ announcement leaned heavily into generational change messaging and criticism of Gov. Mike Dunleavy, saying Alaska has been in a “cycle of managed decline” and promising to “take this campaign to every corner of Alaska.” But the political significance lies in the fundraising velocity. In Alaska, early money often determines who can build statewide infrastructure, travel to rural communities, and define themselves before opponents do.

And while Sitka may seem like an unlikely launching point for a statewide Democratic campaign in a state Donald Trump carried comfortably, Kreiss-Tomkins has been underestimated before.

A 2018 feature in Politico chronicled how Kreiss-Tomkins entered politics as a 23-year-old Yale drop out recruited to run for the Alaska House in 2012. He was urged to quit school temporarily, return home to Sitka, and challenge longtime Republican incumbent Bill Thomas, then chair of House Finance and widely considered unbeatable. The district spanned dozens of communities across Southeast Alaska, and Democrats struggled even to find a candidate.

He won by 32 votes.

The Politico article characterized that upset as part of a broader shift, arguing that Alaska, which had elected Sarah Palin governor and had not backed a Democratic presidential candidate since Lyndon B. Johnson, was beginning to show purple tendencies. A wave of moderates, independents, and Democrats, including Kreiss-Tomkins, reshaped the Alaska House in the years following 2012. Indeed, the House and Senate are now run by Democrats in Alaska.

That history is part of why his current campaign is drawing attention. Still, questions remain. The timing of his fundraising claims, after disclosure deadlines, leaves the source of his financial backing unclear. With multiple Democrats dividing the field and Bishop appealing to labor voters, the math is far from straightforward.

The bigger question now is: Will Alaska elect a Democrat from Sitka? Alaskans have not elected a Democrat for governor since 1998. Oddly, the last Democrat who was elected for governor was Tony Knowles, a Yale graduate. JKT may be a drop out, but he is a Yalie.