Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, a Democratic former state lawmaker from Sitka, has raised more campaign funds than any other of the 17 candidates in Alaska’s governor race, according to reports filed this week.
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Kreiss-Tomkins has brought in $1.8 million since entering the race in February. The majority of it came from wealthy donors who live in the Lower 48.
His top contributors include six employees of Anthropic, a California-based artificial intelligence company, who collectively gave Kreiss-Tomkins $372,000.
Tom Begich, the only other Democrat in the running, reported a total haul of $1.1 million, coming in third among the candidates. Begich, a former state lawmaker from Anchorage, reported raising most of his funds from wealthy Alaskans. His top contributors were Justin Weaver, a prolific donor from Anchorage who gave Begich more than $250,000 in recent months, and Robin Brena, an Anchorage attorney who gave Begich $275,000.
The 12 Republicans in the race each reported more limited fundraising when compared with the Democrats.
The top-raising Republican in the race is Matt Heilala, a podiatrist and businessman who is mostly self-funding his gubernatorial run. Of his total haul of nearly $1.6 million, more than $1.4 million came from the candidate himself.
The second-highest haul for a Republican was reported by former Alaska attorney general Treg Taylor, who reported a total of $1 million in fundraising since he launched his campaign. Less than $150,000 was raised since his last report was filed in February.
Next was former state Revenue Commissioner Adam Crum, who reported raising nearly $940,000; former Labor Commissioner Click Bishop, who reported roughly $613,000 in fundraising; businesswoman Bernadette Wilson, who reported around $460,000; and former Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson, who reported raising $318,000.
Former Gov. Bill Walker, an independent and the only candidate in the race who has previously held the position, trailed with just over $81,000 in reported fundraising. Of that sum, $16,000 came from Walker himself, while $25,000 came from his running mate, former state Revenue Commissioner Randy Hoffbeck.
The campaigns have been shaped by the lack of limits on contributions, allowing for a proliferation of six-figure donations and an advantage to those candidates with access to personal capital or with connections to wealthy Alaskans and Outsiders.
But both Begich and Kreiss-Tomkins, who raised the most when subtracting self-funding, said they support the reintroduction of campaign contribution limits, and would favor stricter limits on independent expenditures if allowed by law.
Alaskans will be asked on the August ballot whether to reinstate campaign contribution limits, after previous ones were struck down by a federal court decision in 2021.
“I’m a huge supporter of campaign finance reform because I don’t think (fundraising) should have the role that it does. But in the system that we have, it’s important,” Kreiss-Tomkins said in an interview Thursday.
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Seeking to head off concerns about his funding from Outsiders who work for AI companies, Kreiss-Tomkins issued a statement Thursday noting that he opposes the construction of data centers in Alaska until the state Legislature “can pass comprehensive regulation on data center development.”
“I think very clearly we should have a process and a policy we don’t right now, and so until we do, nothing should happen,” he said.
Kreiss-Tomkins’ largest contribution came from an Anthropic employee named Drake Thomas, who grew up in Soldotna and now lives in Berkeley, California. Thomas gave the campaign $100,000, and Kreiss-Tomkins said that Thomas connected him with other Anthropic employees who supported his candidacy.
Kreiss-Tomkins said that several of his supporters who work for AI companies share his view that the technology should be heavily regulated. Kreiss-Tomkins wants Alaska to lead in adopting such regulations, including to hold AI companies liable for harms caused by their products, ban deepfakes, require the disclosure of AI in political ads, crack down on AI-enabled fraud, implement protections for children against AI content, and require a human behind state decisions.
But Kreiss-Tomkins said his support from Outsiders is not a reflection of his views on any specific area of policy. Rather, he says it reflects a view by Democratic donors in the Lower 48 that he is more likely to win.
“Almost universally, if donors think someone can win, then you start seeing national interest,” said Kreiss-Tomkins.
“National donors — they don’t want to light their money on fire on a campaign that doesn’t seem to have a path,” he said. “Most of our national donors, I think, actually, their only agenda is, ‘can you win?’”
Begich, meanwhile, said his contributions from wealthy Alaskans are “worth noting,” and reflect an interest in Alaska-specific issues that Begich is campaigning on, like reforming Alaska’s oil tax policy.
The candidates also differ significantly in their spending habits so far. Kreiss-Tomkins and Heilala have spent the most, reporting more than $1.3 million and $1.2 million respectively in expenses. None of the other candidates have reported spending over $650,000 so far, leaving them with more in the bank as the Aug. 18 primary is less than a month away.
Kreiss-Tomkins’ top expenses include nearly $600,000 on media buys. Some of the ads were created by Fight Agency, whose political consultants have worked for left-leaning political candidates across the country, including New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
Kreiss-Tomkins also spent more than $105,000 on printed mailers created by Anchorage’s Ship Creek Group; $61,000 on a poll conducted by an Alabama-based research company; and $18,000 on political consulting by Slingshot Strategies, a Brooklyn-based firm that previously consulted for former Maine U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner, who recently dropped out of that race.
“It’s kind of helpful to have that combination hybrid approach of in-state expertise and national perspective, and they all work together and pool their perspective,” said Kreiss-Tomkins. “I think it’s a great approach in my mind that you have both inside and outside expertise in your corner.”
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