Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins | |
---|---|
Member of the AlaskaHouseofRepresentatives from the 35th district | |
In office January 15, 2013 –January 17, 2023 | |
Preceded by | Bill Thomas (redistricting) |
Succeeded by | Rebecca Himschoot (redistricting) |
Personal details | |
Born | Sitka,Alaska | February 7,1989
Political party | Democratic |
Residence(s) | Sitka,Alaska |
Alma mater | Yale University |
Jonathan S. Kreiss-Tomkins (born February 7,1989) is an American politician who was a member of the Alaska House of Representatives from 2013 to 2023. A Democrat,he represented the state's 35th district,which encompasses many Southeast island communities including Hoonah,Sitka,Kake,Klawock,Craig,Angoon,and Petersburg.
For the 30th Legislature,Kreiss-Tomkins was a member of the following committees: [1]
House Bill 216,sponsored by Kreiss-Tomkins,was signed into law on October 23,2014,making each of the twenty Native languages in Alaska an official language of the state. The act,which was passed by large bipartisan majorities in both chambers,adds Inupiaq,Siberian Yupik,Central Alaskan Yup'ik,Alutiiq,Unangax,Dena'ina,Deg Xinag,Holikachuk,Koyukon,Upper Kuskokwim,Gwich'in,Tanana,Upper Tanana,Tanacross,Hän,Ahtna,Eyak,Tlingit,Haida,and Tsimshian languages as official languages of the state. [2]
Due to the 2010 census redistricting,Bill Thomas,a state representative since 2004,was redrawn into a slightly altered district. Kreiss-Tomkins's hometown of Sitka fell into the 34th district,and no other candidates from the Democratic party filed to run in the primary,so he decided to run for the seat. [5] Kreiss-Tomkins dropped out of Yale University after three years to run. [6]
The race was very close,and Kreiss-Tomkins won with 50.12% of the vote. After a recount that decreased his margin of victory from 34 votes to 32,the vote was finalized on December 3,2012,almost a month after election day. [7] [8]
In the 2014 midterm elections,Kreiss-Tomkins was reelected with 60% of the vote (3393 votes to 2288). [9] His opponent was Petersburg Republican Steven Samuelson,who had lost twice before to Peggy Wilson of Wrangell in primaries. Kreiss-Tomkins was elected in a slightly altered district (renumbered as House District 35) that now included Petersburg and the northern end of Prince of Wales Island,but no longer covered Haines and Metlakatla. [10]
After Kreiss-Tomkins's victory in 2012, The Nation wrote an article about him titled "Alaska's Lesson for the Left" and he later featured in Politico’s "How to Turn a Red State Purple".
Following the 2014 legislative session,during which Kreiss-Tomkins sponsored a successful bill that made Alaska's Native languages official, The Washington Post named him one of its "40 Under 40" of American politicians.
As a freshman at Sitka High School in 2003,Kreiss-Tomkins attracted national attention as a major online organizer for the Howard Dean presidential campaign. [11]
He is a long distance runner,winning the Alpine Adventure Race in 2009 [12] and placing second in the Coyote Two Moon ultramarathon in 2010. [13]
He is also a mountaineer and in 2009 he climbed the highest volcano in the world,Argentina’s Ojos del Salado,to conclusively measure its height against a neighboring peak in Chile. [14] [15]
Kreiss-Tomkins founded Outer Coast College [16] [17] and the Alaska Fellows Program. [18] In 2020,he co-founded Covid Act Now. [19]
Alaska is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region,it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states,alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the northernmost,westernmost,and easternmost state in the United States. It borders the Canadian territory of Yukon and the province of British Columbia to the east. It shares a western maritime border,in the Bering Strait,with Russia's Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. The Chukchi and Beaufort Seas of the Arctic Ocean lie to the north,and the Pacific Ocean lies to the south. Technically,it is a semi-exclave of the U.S.,and is the largest exclave in the world.
Sitka is a unified city-borough in the southeast portion of the U.S. state of Alaska. It was under Russian rule from 1799 to 1867. The city is situated on the west side of Baranof Island and the south half of Chichagof Island in the Alexander Archipelago of the Pacific Ocean. As of the 2020 census,Sitka had a population of 8,458,making it the fifth-most populated city in the state.
Lisa Ann Murkowski is an American attorney and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Alaska,having held the seat since 2002. She is the first woman to represent Alaska in the Senate and is the Senate's second-most senior Republican woman. Murkowski became dean of Alaska's congressional delegation upon Representative Don Young's death.
The Alaska State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is a bicameral institution consisting of the 40-member Alaska House of Representatives and the 20-member Alaska Senate. There are 40 House Districts (1–40) and 20 Senate Districts (A–T). With a total of 60 lawmakers,the Alaska State Legislature is the smallest bicameral state legislature in the United States and the second-smallest of all state legislatures. There are no term limits for either chamber. The Alaska State Legislature meets in the Alaska State Capitol in Juneau. The current meeting since 2023 is the 33rd Alaska State Legislature. The previous meeting,the 32nd Alaska State Legislature,met from 2021 to 2023.
Andrew Verne Marrou is an American politician who served in the Alaska House of Representatives from the 5th district as a member of the Libertarian Party from 1985 to 1987. He was the Libertarian vice-presidential nominee in the 1988 election and presidential nominee in the 1992 election.
Alaska Day is a legal holiday in the U.S. state of Alaska,observed on October 18. It is the anniversary of the formal transfer of territories in present-day Alaska from the Russian Empire to the United States,which occurred on Friday,October 18,1867.
The Alaska State House of Representatives is the lower house in the Alaska State Legislature,the state legislature of the U.S. state of Alaska. The House is composed of 40 members,each of whom represents a district of approximately 17,756 people per 2010 census figures. Members serve two-year terms without term limits. With 40 representatives,the Alaska House is the smallest state legislative lower chamber in the United States. The House convenes at the State Capitol in Juneau.
Mt. Edgecumbe High School is a public boarding high school in Sitka,Alaska in the United States. Located on Japonski Island,across Sitka Harbor from the northwestern corner of downtown Sitka,the school is situated on a portion of Sitka's former World War II-era military installations.
In U.S. politics,an independent Democrat is an individual who loosely identifies with the ideals of the Democratic Party but chooses not to be a formal member of the party or is denied the Democratic nomination in a caucus or primary election. Independent Democrat is not a political party. Several elected officials,including members of Congress,have identified as independent Democrats.
USCGC Maple (WLB-207) is a Juniper-class seagoing buoy tender operated by the United States Coast Guard. She was based at Sitka,Alaska for 16 years and is currently homeported at Atlantic Beach,North Carolina. Her primary mission is maintaining aids to navigation,but she also supports search and rescue,law enforcement,oil spill response,and other Coast Guard missions.
Bert Stedman is a Republican member of the Alaska Senate. A fourth generation Alaskan,he was born in Anchorage and spent his childhood between Petersburg and Sitka. He was appointed by Governor Frank Murkowski in November 2003 to the Alaska Senate. Stedman currently represents many communities in Southeast Alaska,including Ketchikan,Sitka,Petersburg,Wrangell,and Yakutat.
Albert Matthew Kookesh,Jr. was an American politician who served as a member of the Alaska Senate. He represented District C as a Democrat from 2005 through 2013. Previously he was a member of the Alaska House of Representatives from 1997 through 2005.
Although in its early years of statehood,Alaska was a Democratic state,since the early 1970s it has been characterized as Republican-leaning. Local political communities have often worked on issues related to land use development,fishing,tourism,and individual rights. Alaska Natives,while organized in and around their communities,have been active within the Native corporations. These have been given ownership over large tracts of land,which require stewardship. The state has an independence movement favoring a vote on secession from the United States,with the Alaskan Independence Party,but its membership has shrunk in recent decades.
Byron Ivar Mallott was an American politician,elder,tribal activist,and business executive from the state of Alaska. Mallott was an Alaska Native leader of Tlingit heritage and the leader of the Kwaash KéKwaan clan. He was the 12th lieutenant governor of Alaska from December 2014 until his resignation on October 16,2018. He also previously served as the mayor of Yakutat,the mayor of Juneau,the president of the Alaska Federation of Natives and the executive director of the Alaska Permanent Fund.
William A. Thomas Jr. is a businessman,commercial fisherman,and politician from the U.S. state of Alaska. Thomas served as a Republican member of the Alaska House of Representatives from the 5th District,comprising scattered rural and semi-rural communities throughout Southeast Alaska and stretching westward to Prince William Sound,from 2005 to 2013. Thomas served in the majority his entire tenure in the House and held multiple chairmanships. Thomas gained a seat on the powerful House Finance Committee during his second term and would eventually co-chair the committee. Following redistricting,Thomas lost reelection in 2012 by 32 votes to 23-year-old Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins,a political newcomer who left Yale University to run.
The Libertarian Party of Alaska is the affiliate of the Libertarian Party (LP) in Alaska,headquartered in Anchorage.
Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium (SEARHC) is a non-profit medical,dental,vision and mental health organization serving the health interests of the residents of Southeast Alaska.
Sitka Fine Arts Camp is a nationally-recognized fine arts summer camp located in Sitka,Alaska. The camp was established in 1973 at Sheldon Jackson College. It used other locations in the years that followed before acquiring the majority of historic Sheldon Jackson College buildings and campus in 2011. It took almost four years for a USDA Rural Development loan to be transferred from the college to the camp because of a "maze of paperwork," but it was done in 2013.
Outer Coast College is a small,private,liberal arts college in development in Sitka,Alaska. It is currently in the accreditation process with the plan to open a two-year undergraduate program in the fall of 2024.
The 2022 Alaska House of Representatives elections were held on Tuesday,November 8,2022,with the primary election on August 16,2022. Voters in the 40 districts of the Alaska House of Representatives elected their representatives,in conjunction with state senate elections and the biennial United States elections for federal offices.