Bronson takes the last spot on Alaska's four-way November governor ballot

Dave Bronson, the former Anchorage mayor, holds the fourth and last spot on Alaska's November governor ballot, completing a field of two Democrats and two Republicans that voters will rank on Nov. 3.

In the state count published Aug. 26, with 400 of 402 precincts reported, Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins had 22.24%, Tom Begich 20.54%, Bernadette Wilson 10.21% and Bronson 8.17%. Bronson leads the fifth-place Republican ticket by 1,239 votes. The Alaska Division of Elections count remains listed as unofficial.

Decision Desk HQ made the call at 8:19 a.m. EDT Thursday, nine days after the Aug. 18 primary. "Decision Desk HQ projects Dave Bronson wins the Alaska Governor Primary," the firm said in posts on X and Bluesky. Under Alaska's system, that wording means advancement, not outright victory.

The Division of Elections says the primary does not use ranked-choice voting. The top four finishers move on to the ranked-choice general election in November, where a candidate needs a majority of continuing ballots to win.

Three of the four spots were called within an hour of each other on primary night. The firm projected Kreiss-Tomkins and Begich at 1:01 a.m. EDT on Aug. 19 and Wilson at 2:01 a.m. Bronson's took eight more days.

Seventeen candidates competed for the open seat: 12 Republicans, two Democrats and three independents. Gov. Mike Dunleavy is term-limited. Former Gov. Bill Walker finished ninth with 4.43%.

Kreiss-Tomkins, a former state representative from Sitka, said in his candidate statement filed with the Division of Elections on June 26, "Alaska needs change. Prices are rising, schools are closing." Begich, a former Alaska State Senate minority leader, said in his June 25 filing that he was running because he was "not willing to accept Alaska's decline."

No candidate or campaign was interviewed for this account.