By SUZANNE DOWNING
Sept. 17, 2026 – Gubernatorial hopeful Dave Bronson worked to earn the liberal vote on Wednesday, repeatedly agreeing with Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins while delivering a blistering assessment of the Dunleavy administration during a gubernatorial forum sponsored by the Alaska Hospital and Healthcare Association.
Bronson described the Dunleavy government as failing, described multiple agencies as dysfunctional and blamed Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s relationship with the Alaska Legislature for the lack of progress on major issues, including a natural gas pipeline.
At multiple points during the forum, Bronson expressly endorsed observations made by Kreiss-Tomkins, the leading Democrat in the race for governor. He did not offer his own solutions, but agreed with JKT’s solutions.
“Jonathan is right. The state is dysfunctional in very many areas, and this is a particularly bad one,” Bronson said while discussing the Alaska Department of Health.
Watch video: Bronson aligning with JKT
Dave Bronson has aligned with the Democrats on socialized health care. pic.twitter.com/NVRg4GJodb
— TheAlaskaStory.com (@Downing907) September 17, 2026
Later, while addressing the broader performance of state government, Bronson again cited Kreiss-Tomkins approvingly.
“I think a lot of government, like Jonathan said, is highly dysfunctional,” Bronson said.
Bronson went even further, saying that he and Kreiss-Tomkins not only identified the same problem but favored the same solution.
“We’re tired of the fighting,” Bronson said. “I mean, Jonathan and I are on opposite ends of the political spectrum, and we see the exact same problem and have the exact same solutions: Go down there and talk to people. Work with them, because you’re not going to get anything done if you’re fighting the Legislature.”
Near the conclusion of his remarks, Bronson agreed with Kreiss-Tomkins for a third time.
“Jonathan is right. You’ve got to listen before you talk,” he said. “And you’ve got to understand where that person is coming from and what they’re trying to accomplish.”
Those agreements came amid a sustained attack on the Republican administration that has governed Alaska for eight years.
Bronson opened his remarks by declaring that the state is failing, particularly in the Department of Health.
“The numbers that you gave don’t lie,” he said. “We are failing at a state level, especially in the Department of Health.”
Bronson said that, if elected, he would immediately order a review of the department’s operations, including its handling of Medicaid applications and eligibility paperwork.
“We’re disenrolling people,” he said. “People are becoming disenrolled because the state is not conducting its own paperwork correctly.”
He also raised allegations of waste within the department.
“I am told — I’m not saying I believe it — but a lot of the waste in government, a lot of it, is in the Department of Health,” Bronson said. “And if there’s waste, that means the people who are supposed to get the help are not getting it.”
Bronson’s criticism then expanded from the Department of Health to the entire Dunleavy administration.
Quoting the famous line from the movie “Cool Hand Luke,” Bronson said Juneau has suffered from “a failure to communicate.” He blamed old political disputes and deteriorated relationships between Dunleavy and legislators for preventing the state from making progress.
“Old relationships between the governor, when he was senator, and bad relationships have carried through, and we’ve got a lot of things that just aren’t getting done,” Bronson said.
He tied those broken relationships directly to the lack of progress on a natural gas pipeline.
“Government is suffering, and where we’re suffering is that we don’t have a gas line because of that,” he said.
Bronson argued that the governor must be willing to visit legislators personally, listen to their priorities and work collaboratively even when lawmakers are hostile to the administration.
“You can feel good about fighting with the Legislature, or you can go down there and win for the people,” he said, implying that Dunleavy did not attempt to work with the Democrat-dominated Legislature.
Bronson then offered perhaps his most sweeping judgment of Dunleavy’s tenure.
“You’re going to feel good about fighting, probably, if that’s what you’re inclined to do, but you’re not going to win anything, because we haven’t won anything in eight years,” he said.
Near the end of the forum, Bronson returned to the subject, saying the governor must “swallow your pride” and regularly visit legislators’ offices to ask what they are trying to accomplish.
“You simply have to do that,” Bronson said. “And quite frankly, in the last eight years, that hasn’t been done at all. And we’re paying the price for that right now.”
“This government is failing on many levels,” he added, “and it’s because of relationships.”
The election for governor ends Nov. 3, with early voting beginning Oct. 19. Three Republicans, including Bronson, face one Democrat on the November ballot. The Republicans are leading candidate Bernadette Wilson, former attorney general Treg Taylor, and former Anchorage Mayor Bronson. JKT is a former House representative for Sitka.
34 thoughts on “Video: Bronson moves to the middle, aligns with JKT repeatedly, while dumping on Dunleavy administration at forum”
Bronson agreed that the government is dysfunctional….. shocking!
Cook Political Report moved Alaska Governor race from lean R to toss-up on 9-17-2026. Karl Rove says he’s voting Democratic in Texas because the “GOP’s stables need cleaning”. WSJ. That onrushing freight train noise you’re hearing, Republicans? It’s November comin’, and you’re chained and welded to the tracks. Escape is not possible. You made your choice. You chose poorly.
Go away Moron – move back to Seattle.
His campaign are trying to peel the moderates from JKT, we’ll see if the strategy works peeling away moderate democrats from JKT
What JKT won’t say the reason why Alaska Government is so dysfunctional is because of the ENTRENCHED Democracy and Democrats in government
JKT is Dave Bronson’s new best bro. “Jonathan, dear, you are so cool and we agree with each other.”
.
Bronson’s next move will be a coming out party with LGBTQ candidate, Jonathan.
🤣
Don’t be stupid
This is why Alaska Republicans have been losing territory they lack the political strategies to fight the democrats
Hopefully for Bronson it works just like the moderates who voted for him in 2021 because JKT is too radical like Dunbar is
So he’s going to be Sarah Palin in 2022, where he comes in and is going to cozy up to JKT just like Sarah did to Mary Peltola, and he will deliver the victory to JKT just like Sarah did to Mary. Narcissism at its finest. Bronson has no path, so he just wants to make sure that a Democrat wins, rather than be beat by a girl.
JKT talks and acts like a girl so he may still be beat by a girly girl.
Bernadette showed us all some pretty big cahones when she stood up to the Anchorage ASSembly and called out each and everyone of the misfits for their ridiculous lockdowns and mismanagement (illegal) spending of Covid relief funding. She said and did everything we felt without being arrested and drug out of the ASSembly chambers in cuffs for speaking up and pointing fingers at the culprits. She has my vote for doing that alone.
Alaskans are not going to elect an old white guy who comes across as a stern dinosaur, hellbent on taking us back to the 50’s. A mysogenist and a crumudgen with no tolerance for anybody else. He’s too set in his ways and is proving to be a meany. I’m a conservative, middle aged white woman and will be voting for Bernadette Wilson, along with many of my women friends.
> not going to elect an old white guy
Got a little (or more) misandry about you Naomi? Do you believe in the patriarchy too?
I’d be careful with that. Wilson is going to need all the votes she can get and marxist-femminist b.s. is an easy way for her to lose votes.
I don’t care who the guv is as long as it is not the homosexual. The quotes from the Bronson guy make him look bad.
Well Naomi and Micah, Bronson and Taylor (and Wilson) will be much better for us in the Governor’s office than JKT. Either of them their presence will slow down what AkDemocrats have done and want to take us down the path of Marxism/Communism/Islam
Its an old strategic move used when your failed campaign hasn’t gained enough traction with the populace to place higher near the pole position to win the race.
By aligning your thoughts and views early enough in the race with your opposing party leader there is always a chance JKT will toss Bronson a bone and end up with at least a high paying retirement job (benefit) for at least splitting enough votes to hand JKT a podium finish with a checkered flag.
It reminds me of high school days when it came time to vote for class president (popularity race) and no one wanted to align themselves with a loser so everyone was like “Oh yeah I supported the winner”.
Bronson has zero chance of winning, the left has his number, the Anch assembly owned him, the fraud coalition will do the same. He needs to suspend his campaign and help Bernadette. The fact that he’s so arrogant and selfish he won’t, as a result, I will never vote for now or in the future.
Bronson is correct.
In fact, he could’ve gone much further and pointed out that Dunleavy is also seriously compromised and failed more than once to hold his own when the wolves came prowling.
Simply recall the award he bestowed on Anne Zink, our “Fauci of the North” in response to calls for her dismissal, his attempt to dissolve the Board of Certified Direct-Entry Midwives with the lie that they were costing the state too much money, and his inability to stand his ground when it came to matters of education funding, the AK Bar Association stacking his choices for judges with radical liberals, and, most egregiously, failing to stand strong on his attempt to protect the unborn through his line item veto of Medicaid funds being used to kill vulnerable children.
But I get it. Dave’s gotta be the bad guy so Bernadette looks good. Surrogate attacks on Dave via The Alaska Story are getting a little old.
Integrity and practical wisdom can’t be manufactured or purchased, no matter how many big, out of state donors you have or how many big, out of state endorsements you rack up.
Okay, now do Bronson’s record with the Anchorage Assembly. I’ll wait. Bronson spent a fortune on a fairly good idea to consolidate “homeless” addicts in one place near the police station, but he failed to get support for it through the Assembly first, and wasted all that cash. He repeatedly proved he could not work with them, and I admit it was a hard row to hoe to do so, but that was the hand he was dealt. He never found a way to get things done. Don’t you suppose Dunleavey has the same issues with our Legislature, and yet he manages to get some things done. I think we all know this is just Bronson hating to be upstaged by a woman. No wonder he can’t work well with others.
Right.
Thanks for the ADN recap.
-And Bernadette accomplished what, exactly, by strutting her stuff, tossing her mane, and yelling at the Assembly during Covid?
Or was it the dance party outside chambers that brought about …what, exactly, other than making people feel awesome?
Can’t wait to see what she gets done yelling at the legislature and dancing on the steps of the capitol building!
Except, isn’t she the one promising to tackle every issue by having conversations? A winning strategy, to be sure. -Unless Bronson says he’ll talk to people. Then it’s ridiculous.
Don’t think I agree with the notion that Dunleavy is in any way compromised. The difference is that due to RINOs caucusing with democrats in the legislature and handing over control of various houses of the legislature, usually the Senate, he was forced into a defensive war. As such, he did a pretty good job denying them the ability to blow a hole in the state’s economy.
Sadly, when you are defensive, you aren’t offensive, so we didn’t get a gasline and have all but lost the PFD. All in all, Dunleavy was a pretty good, albeit unexpected defensive governor.
OTOH, do agree with most of your anti-Dunleavy shopping list, as he could have done better. Perfect. Nope. Pretty good, yes. The old Reaganism of someone who agrees with you 80% of the time is not your enemy.
That being said, if I were you, I would be far more concerned with Bronson falling all over himself giving JKT a sloppy tongue bath after pretending to be a conservative than anything Dunleavy has or has not done. After all, Dunleavy may very well be your next US Senator in two years. Cheers –
Me looking beyond Bronson’s words “against” Gov Dunleavy whom was supportive of mayor Bronson and the two worked well together, its what Alaskan Republicans beyond the “rebuke” to see it as a way for Bronson to peel away Moderate Democrats from voting for a Democrat that even they don’t really way. Because how Mayor Bronson became Mayor over Dunbar was because of Moderates, Dunbar was too radical just like JKT is too radical. Critically thinking Bronson’s team is building a bridge for Democrat moderates to come over to supporting him
Desperation by Dave Bronson. He knows he can’t beat Bernadette so why not side with the Democrats and embrace LGBTQ. Who knows, maybe Dave has some LGBTQ skeletons in his own family? And beating up on Dunleavy is a fool’s errand. Mike will never endorse Bronson. So while Bronson is off chasing Democrat votes, Republicans will start leaving Bronson in droves. The former Anchorage mayor proved he has trouble getting along with people. Now he is showing that he’s also a vindictive SOB and will help destroy members of his own party. This is not the man who will be governor under any circumstances.
Going after Dunleavy is just his response to the JKT commercial accusing him and the rest of being Dunleavy’s third term.
Bronson’s RCV arithmetic has entirely silly implications. All he and JKT have in common is that both are clueless as to how to run an executive branch. However, Bronson ran an executive branch and proved he is clueless. I am embarrassed for him but we all can see his is shameless.
Bronson and his campaign is dysfunctional. He’s willing to burn down his party’s own house just to prove that no other Republican is going to be governor unless it’s him. A nasty man with huge distemper. I’ll be voting for Bernie and campaigning for her. Dave Bronson stinks.
So which version of Bronson are we to believe?
The gay version, Evan. Bronson is a closeted homo. JKT is his new hero.
We’ve got a winner here, and it’s not Dave Bronson.
It doesn’t matter, you were never going to vote for him anyway. All you’ll see is,the (R)After his name, and you’ll be triggered into a fit of hatred
I am one of the people that is more stupid than Bronson. Why? Because I contributed a significant amount of money to his Anchorage Mayoral
Campaign. I thought that he could work with the Anchorage assembly to get things done. It was a disaster. Why in the world would he think he can now work with the legislature. He is way too polarizing. And he says things during a campaign and then does just the opposite when he gets in office. Now he is acting as a spoiler hoping he can land a position in the office which he thinks his opponent tonight win.
Complain about Bronson or Wilson or Taylor after November. Even electing Bronson as Governor will Slow down the decline of our beloved State of Alaska. Okay.
The war is bigger than our personal misgivings and disappointments. Either one of them as Governor will slow this Marxism/Communism/Islam spreading across the country.
And Republicans need to their Three R’s for Governor. Hopefully in Unison order. Like Wilson 1, Bronson2, and Taylor 3. I think most republicans will rank them after their primary line-up or who they saw the Most of the three.
Yes, yes, yes! Stupid , stupid, stupid!
Bronson is a blockhead. The dims wrote the RCV book for Republicans. This idiot is following it by the page. He does not have a chance in hell of winning but he’s going to make damn sure no other Republican can. Way to go Bronson. You will be remembered as a spoiler. Your head has swelled to a basketball thereby reducing your brain to the size of a pea.
you guys are taking Bronson comments too seriously
Its political campaigning
What is important is peeling Moderate democrats from JKT because he needs them to win
And Ms Downing. I have a suggestion try not to make such provocative titles that’ll potentially damage any of the three R candidates (Wilson, Bronson, Taylor) because we are all in this race together. When we get down to the basics either one of the R’s and their Lt Governor candidate picks in the Governor’s office will slow down the AkDemocrats plan to make Alaska a totalitarian socialist/communist/marxist state of Alaska.
Trying to get Every voter voting for the Republicans is hard enough to get them to rank all three and hopefully in Unity uniform since twelve republicans chose to remain in the race increasing the difficulty of the governor’s race. The last thing the Republican group needs is voters being confused of Wilson, Bronson, Taylor when we need the groups majority need to be voting in Order unity.
I don’t mind Bronson. I don’t mind Wilson. I don’t mind Taylor. I definitely mind JKT. One thing we know for sure: If all conservatives rank all the Rs IN THEIR PRIMARY ORDER, we will win. One clear path. Take it, or accept JKT. Anybody want to tell me how that’s wrong?
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