Democratic candidate suspends campaign for Alaska governor

Tom Begich, a Democrat running for governor in Alaska, announced Friday evening he was dropping out of the race.

The former state senator endorsed his Democratic opponent, former state Rep. Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins. Both candidates advanced to the general election in Alaska’s open primary earlier this month.

In a video shared on the social platform X announcing his campaign’s suspension, Begich cited funding concerns, saying that keeping the campaign going through the November election “would take millions more than we have.”

“We’ve spoken with the other leading Democrat in this race. He shared data, and we’ve reviewed our own internal information, and the data we’ve seen makes clear that the strongest path to winning in November is not two democratic candidates competing for the same donors and resources; it’s bringing those people together behind one ticket,” Begich said.

Julia Hnilicka, a candidate for lieutenant governor running with Begich, said Kreiss-Tomkins “shares our commitment” to issues like school funding, energy affordability and housing access.

The Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan election forecaster, rates Alaska’s gubernatorial race to replace Gov. Mike Dunleavy (R) as “likely Republican.”

Kreiss-Tomkins led the pack in Alaska’s open primary race earlier this month with nearly 23 percent of the vote, according to Decision Desk HQ. Begich received just under 21 percent, and Republican candidate Bernadette Wilson garnered 10 percent.

Wilson and Kreiss-Tomkins will face off in the general election this November.

Former Alaskan Gov. Tony Knowles (D) has backed Kreiss-Tomkins in this race. The Democrat is running to expand Medicaid coverage, bring down energy costs, fund public education and expand affordable housing options in the state.

The former state representative also supports a moratorium on all new data centers in the state until Alaska’s legislature passes “comprehensive regulation” for these projects, according to his campaign website .

Wilson has campaigned on a platform to eliminate income-based inequality in education, promote the state’s oil and gas industries and partner with President Trump. The state has voted for Trump in the last three presidential elections.

“The incoming governor has the opportunity to partner with the president to make sure that we take these first two years of what will be hopefully our administration and the last couple [years] of the president’s administration and really make a big impact on the country,” she told Newsmax earlier this month.

“So the goal is to make sure that … when people look back and they reflect back on Donald Trump’s time as president, that they reflect back fondly to Alaska and what we accomplished in oil and gas,” Wilson continued.