Meet JKT

JKT standing outdoors with Sitka, Alaska in the background.

I’m Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins — but most people call me JKT.

I was born and raised in Sitka. Like a lot of kids in Southeast, I spent most of my time playing in the woods getting dirt under my fingernails. My dad kept the freezer full of venison and halibut and my mom worked as a family doctor in the local hospital. I graduated Sitka High School as an Eagle Scout.

Young JKT wearing a red life jacket, blue jacket, yellow waterproof pants, and black boots sitting in a small boat with a snowy Alaskan mountain landscape in the background.
JKT dressed in an Eagle Scouts uniform, wearing badges and neckerchiefs, standing indoors in front of a framed photo collage and an American flag.
A man holding a young JKT standing next to a large fish hanging from a ceiling in a rustic outdoor setting.

I went to college on the East Coast where I got my first taste of traffic jams and 90-degree weather. I was starting my final year before graduation when a few friends from home called. Southeast Alaska’s long-time representative in the Alaska Legislature was running for reelection — unopposed. 

The incumbent had voted to give oil companies a massive tax break, shortchanging Alaskans and leaving our schools and infrastructure crumbling. So I left college, without a degree, and came home to kick off a scrappy, grassroots campaign, traveling by ferry and floatplane to knock on nearly every door across Southeast Alaska. I won — by 32 votes.

Group of people at a political campaign event holding yellow and blue signs that read "Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins for State House." Some signs have an illustration of mountains and a river. The group includes adults and children standing on a grassy area with a building, trees, and mountains in the background.
JKT standing on an Alaskan beach
JKT engaged in conversation as an Alaska State Legislator, in a formal setting, dressed in business attire.

That was 14 years ago. Since then, I’ve won five elections fighting for working families, a strong economy, and a government that works for regular people. In Juneau, I worked across the aisle to reduce trawl bycatch, protect public schools, invest in basic infrastructure like roads and harbors, revitalize Alaska Native languages, and protect the $85 billion Permanent Fund.

JKT holding a large crab by a rocky lakeshore with boat and forested hills in the background.
JKT fishing in Alaska
A selfie of a woman and JKT with snow-capped mountains and green hills in the background.

Since I left the legislature three years ago, I’ve seen the same thing we all have: a distracted and dysfunctional state government that isn’t working for Alaskans. Prices keep rising. Small businesses struggle to keep the lights on. Roads and bridges deteriorate. Schools close. 


Alaskans deserve better. That’s why I’m running for governor: to work with others, including across party lines and geographic divides, to solve Alaska’s problems and get our state back on track.

Join our fight

for the future of Alaska.

$5
$5
$50
$50
$25
$25
$100
$100
Custom amount
Custom amount

All donations are securely processed by ActBlue.