By SUZANNE DOWNING
Nov. 1, 2026 – Alaska is in the middle of a historic race for governor, unlike anything it has ever seen. The money for Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins’ campaign has eclipsed any other campaign in Alaska in history.
The Democrat candidate for governor has become so flush with cash that his final-weekend advertising is taking to the Anchorage sky: a blimp bearing the Democrat’s name floating over the city.
The JKT campaign had raised approximately $5.3 million through Oct. 24, including roughly $1.05 million in the latest reporting period. That was before another round of large contributions arrived in the closing days of the race.
The fundraising has put Kreiss-Tomkins far ahead of his Republican rivals and given wealthy donors from outside Alaska a substantial financial stake in who succeeds Gov. Mike Dunleavy.
About 70% of the campaign’s donations through early October came from outside Alaska and nearly half of its overall income came from donors with addresses in just two states: California and New York.
More than half of the $2.1 million raised between Aug. 9 and Oct. 2 came from donors giving at least $10,000, and the vast majority of those large donors listed out-of-state addresses.
The late money continues to pour in in amounts that dwarf an ordinary household’s political contribution. Few Alaskans are able to make donations in the ranges we are seeing for JKT.
A 24-hour report filed Oct. 27 disclosed $161,500 in receipts. Four donors accounted for $150,000:
| Contributor | Contribution |
|---|---|
| Dylan Mavrides | $40,000 |
| Johannes Treutlein | $40,000 |
| Benjamin West | $40,000 |
| Joseph Kijewski | $30,000 |
Those four contributions represented nearly 93% of the money disclosed in that single filing.
Three of those contributors — Mavrides, Treutlein and West — had already emerged as major financial backers. Their cumulative contributions had reached $480,000. Mavrides is in New York, while West and Treutlein are based in California; both are in the field of artificial intelligence. Mavrides has contributed like amounts of money to Katie Porter and Xavier Bacerra, Democrats running for California governor.
The campaign’s financial rise has been steep. When he announced his campaign, he quickly revealed he had raised $700,000. Disclosures showed approximately $1.85 million raised by mid-July and $2.17 million through early August. By early October, the total was approximately $4.28 million.
Alaska has never seen so much money in a governor’s race.
The advantage over the Republican field has persisted. From Aug. 9 through Oct. 2, Kreiss-Tomkins raised more than twice as much as Republicans Bernadette Wilson, Dave Bronson and Treg Taylor combined. His roughly $1 million October haul was more than three times what those Republicans raised that month.
Forward Frontier for JKT, a group separate from the campaign, had brought in more than $1.3 million from sources including the Democratic Governors Association, Democratic Action and AFSCME. The Republican Governors Association supplied approximately $1.6 million to Kodiak PAC to support Republicans.
For now, the most striking image of Kreiss-Tomkins’ financial advantage may be the one floating above Anchorage.
The JKT blimp gives physical form to a campaign operating on a scale its Republican competitors have been unable to match. Whether that lavish spending buys the governor’s mansion is a question Alaska voters will answer Tuesday, Nov. 3.
3 thoughts on “The buying of the Alaska Governor’s Mansion: JKT’s $5.3 million campaign rides a wave of Outside money”
Johnny Tomkins is a diehard socialist and woke Marxist.
How ANY Alaskans could support such an anti-American insurrectionist and traitor boggles my mind.
Shame on any Alaskan who supports globalist totalitarian evil.
I suppose having the AI folks backing him makes it clear why he runs ads against data centers in AK. He is trying to hide the fact that he is beholden to the data center folks for his cash. Frankly, he was pretty much a nobody until the outside money poured in. Let’s please make sure he goes back to being a nobody again after the election, so that folks will start to realize they can’t necessarily buy an Alaska politician cheap.
Such irony.
The little faggot from Sitka, who lives with his mommy, owns no property and pays no property taxes, dropped out of college so he could become a politician, and will impose huge taxes on all of us. He will kill the PFD and infuse the government with big money $$$$ to spend on public education. Teachers unions, LGBTQ promoters and new DEI inventions. All of this brought to you by DARK MONEY from outside of Alaska and Rank Choice Voting. Will Alaska wake up? We will soon know.