Former state senator Tom Begich is running for governor.
Begich, an Anchorage Democrat, is the first Democrat in a field already crowded with Republicans.
The main reason he’s running, he said, is to reverse what he sees as state stagnation. He emphasized the need to boost education funding and wants to raise state revenues — from corporate taxes, trimming oil tax credits and the like. He says $500 million in new state revenue is within easy reach.
“That's just about agreeing that these things make sense. None of those things cost an individual Alaskan anything," he said. "What it requires is members of the Legislature and the governor to agree, and I'm not seeing that happen right now.”
Bills to change how the state taxes corporations and grants petroleum tax credits are pending in the Legislature but face an uncertain fate.
The last Democrat to win a statewide race in Alaska was Mary Peltola. She was elected to the U.S. House in 2022, lost in 2024 and hasn’t announced whether she’s running for any office in 2026. If she decides to run for governor, said he would drop out.
“I've always told her, and I would say this to you: if she were to get in this race, I wouldn’t need to be in this race. She would be in the race," he said. "But I am in the race, and that is the difference.”
So far, Begich has only filed a letter of intent to run, but if he wins, he’d be the fourth in his family to hold statewide office. His father, Nick, and brother Mark served in Congress as Democrats. Tom is the uncle of Alaska Congressman Nick Begich III, a Republican.
