Suzanne Downing: Bronson says ‘rank Republicans,’ then helps the Democrat tear one down

By SUZANNE DOWNING

Oct. 9, 2026 – Thursday night’s Debate for the State (Alaska Public Media, KTUU, KTOO)  featured four candidates for governor answering questions from Alaska’s media. Three Republicans, one Democrat.

But at times, it seemed Dave Bronson had come prepared to debate only one person: fellow Republican Bernadette Wilson.

For Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, Bronson had warmth, agreement, and stories about their friendly relationship. The two hang out together and are “friends.” For Wilson, he had rebuttals and, in his closing remarks, a pointed attack on whether she had her “personal house in order.”

It was a disgrace of a performance from a Republican who also wants voters to rank the Republicans to keep the one Democrat out of the governor’s office.

Bronson identified Treg Taylor as his second choice. He did not give Wilson a place on his ballot in that answer to the moderators. Yet he then he urged voters to rank all three Republicans.

There is a sensible election strategy in that advice. But why did Bronson spend much of the evening undermining it? It was cognitive dissonance.

When Wilson challenged the notion that bipartisan go-along-get-along harmony has delivered results for Alaska, Bronson stepped forward to defend cooperation with the Democrat.

“Jonathan and I, opposite sides of the political spectrum, agree,” he said, before explaining that people need to work together.

Yes, a governor must work with legislators from all stripes. We don’t need a gubernatorial debate to establish that there is one governor and 60 legislators. The question is what a governor will agree to, what he will resist, and whether the resulting deal serves Alaskans.

Bronson and JKT have coffee together. They’re buddies.  Friends, he said. Well, coffee is easy. Governing is harder.

Bronson’s repeated emphasis on his friendly relationship with Kreiss-Tomkins was the punctuation needed to show just how much he looks down on Bernadette Wilson, the very woman who helped him get elected as mayor of Anchorage.

JKT, for his part, did not have to go on the attack against the leading Republican candidate. Bronson did all the heavy lifting for him in his repeated attacks on Wilson.

Wilson presses JKT’s record at governor debate as Bronson praises Democrat, urges compromise

The Democrats noticed, too. The Alaska Democratic Party’s post-debate release seized on Bronson’s attack on Wilson and wondered aloud if he planned to rank JKT, since he neglected to mention Wilson. Bronson had handed them material they were happy to use.

His closing attack was particularly offensive.

Wilson built Denali Disposal, a garbage business, from the ground up. It’s a business that is heavily regulated and it takes a lot of moxie to operate in that world. In March 2025, the commercial building housing her company burned. Everything burned to the ground. I covered that fire at the time. These are the kinds of real-world setbacks business owners must confront while still trying to serve customers and keep an enterprise going, pay bills and pay employees.

Sure, a candidate’s financial record is open to scrutiny. But Bronson’s sneering reference to getting her house in order deserves another look. A look at him.

Bronson’s résumé includes commercial airline flying, the Anchorage mayor’s office, and management of the Anchorage airport. He has never had to sign the front of a paycheck or take responsibility for a private business.

Earning paycheck and having to generate the revenue that pays everyone else’s are different responsibilities.

An entrepreneur’s setbacks were an easy target for Bronson, who never built anything, much less a business.

Then there was Bronson’s gasline lecture. That was the be-all, end-all.

“When you don’t compromise, you don’t get a gas line,” he said.

That remark carried an unmistakable implication about Gov. Mike Dunleavy: Alaska does not have its gasline because the governor failed to compromise.

We have covered this extensively at The Alaska Story. Dunleavy did compromise. Time and again.

In August, he introduced an Alaska LNG compromise bill that accepted a 2% tax on S corporations, delayed its effective date, and removed a provision that could have reduced state education aid to boroughs receiving gasline tax revenue. Those were concrete concessions intended to move the legislation forward.

The Legislature still did not deliver the agreement needed.

Bronson can disagree with Dunleavy’s decisions, but implying that the missing ingredient was simply a willingness to compromise is a complete distortion of the record. This Legislature was never going to hand this governor a win because this Legislature is run by Democrats.

Bronson should understand that from his own experience in Anchorage.

He presents his term as mayor, with an Assembly largely opposed to him, as preparation for Juneau. He has also described looking forward to a Legislature divided “50-50” between Republicans and Democrats, apparently expecting that arrangement to be easier than the Assembly he faced.

That is an awfully optimistic assumption. And it’s an awfully naive one.

A narrowly divided Legislature can give individual members enormous bargaining power. Any legislator can become a terrorist in the organization. One defection can change control. One holdout stops a bill.

I see a serious risk of another Legislature controlled by Democrats and their coalition partners. Bronson should be preparing for that possibility instead of imagining an agreeable division down the middle, populated by legislators who will just compromise and get along. It’s going to be bloody.

Democratic will not abandon their agenda because Dave is pleasant over coffee. If he mistakes cordiality for cooperation, they would play him like a fiddle.

Which brings us back to his ranking message.

Bronson understands enough to tell Republicans that their votes need somewhere to go if their first choice is eliminated. Yet he attacks the Republican who may need those votes.

He is teaching voters the mechanics of ranking while giving them an emotional reason to stop.

Conservatives should resist that temptation.

Rank all three conservatives in your order of preference. If your first choice is eliminated, your vote can transfer to your next ranked candidate who remains in the race. If you have ranked nobody still running, your ballot becomes inactive for subsequent rounds. It counted earlier, but it cannot help decide the remaining contest.

That matters especially for supporters of whichever Republicans finish behind the leading conservative. Nobody can guarantee the elimination order, but leaving the other conservatives blank risks surrendering your voice when it matters most.

Ranking all three gives conservatives a path to victory.

Bronson ought to help voters follow that path. Instead, he spent debate night making it harder, offering the Democrat friendship, being the surrogate attack dog for JKT, and treating the only woman on stage with contempt.

Rank the conservatives. Rank all three, or risk getting JKT.

And Dave: If that is really your message, then stop helping the Democrats tear down the Republican your voters may need next.

Suzanne Downing is founder and editor of The Alaska Story and is a longtime Alaskan.