Juneau, Alaska - Democrat and former State Representative Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins (JKT) is set to become Alaska's next governor, CNN is projecting, as he won more than 50% of ballots counted so far.
The Alaska Division of Elections revealed in results released Thursday that JKT has narrowly passed the 50% mark necessary to take home the state's gubernatorial race. As a result, CNN's Decision Desk has projected that he will become Alaska's next governor.
As of writing, the Associated Press, NBC, and the New York Times have yet to call the race.
According to current results, JKT's closest challenger is Republican candidate Bernadette Wilson, who is sitting at approximately 28.7%. Around 12% of ballots remain to be counted, according to AP.
Thursday's batch of results came from 5,723 early, absentee, and questioned ballots which have now been verified and included in the official count. They are primarily from the state's southeast.
The 12% of votes that remain uncounted are mostly from overseas. These ballots have until November 18, at which point they will be counted and added to the total.
While CNN has predicted a win for JKT, he is so narrowly over 50% that most outlets are choosing to wait until more ballots are counted before calling the race.
This is largely because, while JKT is leagues ahead his competitors, if his final count drops below the 50% mark, ranked choices will need to be tabulated to secure a winner.
If victorious, JKT will become the first Democratic governor of Alaska in more than two decades, since 2002. His success has been attributed in part to a split vote between numerous Republican candidates.
A win would add another victory to the Democrats' midterm record, which has been widely referred to as a "blue tsunami."