Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, cehter, campaigns with supporters in Sitka on Tuesday. (Photo courtesy Kreiss-Tomkins Facebook page)

Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins has won his third term in the state House of Representatives. Voters in Sitka, Petersburg and most Southeast villages gave him a 60-40 victory over Republican challenger Sheila Finkenbinder.

Kreiss-Tomkins said he felt optimistic about his re-election chances. But he didn’t want to be overconfident.

“I work really hard and I do my job well and that record, I think, will be ultimately be reflected in elections,” he said.

His first race was his tightest. In 2012, he beat incumbent Republican Bill Thomas of Haines by only about three dozen votes.

He did better two years later, defeating Petersburg Republican Steven Samuelson by a 60-40 margin. It was about the same this time around.

Republican candidate Sheila Finkenbinder waves to passing cars in Sitka on election day. (Photo by KCAW)

Finkenbinder, his opponent, said she thought she’d do better than she did.

“I had a lot of positive feedback from people who were supporting me. And I was more hopeful than it turned out,” she said.

Finkenbinder campaigned as a candidate who would join a Republican-led House majority, giving her more strength than the incumbent.

And Kreiss-Tomkins has been in the minority for the past four years, which limited his political clout. But a new majority coalition of Democrats, Republicans and independents has formed and he will play a stronger role.

The Sitka Democrat said he doesn’t have a specific to-do list — because he’s a generalist.

“I guess my interest is good ideas – and good ideas of every kind. That might seem like a non-answer. But if I were to look at the bills I’ve introduced over the past four years they’re really kind of A to Z,” he said.

This was Finkenbinder’s first run for public office, but she wasn’t a political newcomer.

She worked as a legislative aide to Rep. Peggy Wilson, a Wrangell Republican whose district used to include Sitka and Petersburg.

She also ran the Greater Sitka Chamber of Commerce and was active in the city’s Republican Party organization.

I Voted Today stickers were popular accessories on Tuesday, election day in Alaska. (Photo by Maggie Schoenfeld)

But the future? She’s not sure whether she’ll run again.

“I’m really not ready to answer that at this point. I’m not sure where my life will take me in the next two years. That’s a lot of time,” she said.

Finkenbinder said she wishes Kreiss-Tomkins well. But she hopes he’ll take on her top priority, promoting economic development.

“You can’t just raise taxes and take in each others’ laundry. You have to have an economy,” she said.

She said that should include continued oil development. But there should be a wider focus.

“We need to encourage timber, fisheries, mining, sea otter (products), seaweed. Whatever it is, we need to develop our resources and grow the economy,” she said.

Kreiss-Tomkins said he too wants to create jobs. But they might not be in the same professions.

“I’ve been particularly focused on new small-business entrepreneurship as well as fisheries and maximizing the value of the Alaska fisheries for Alaskans. But that interest extends to all sectors of our resource economy,” he said.

As in all elections, questioned and absentee ballots must still be counted. But that won’t change these results.

Candidates for state House District 34 Bill Thomas (l) and Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins at a recent Sitka Chamber of Commerce forum. (KCAW photo/Robert Woolsey)

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More money is going into the House District 34 campaign than any other race in Southeast.

Changing legislative boundaries combined Sitka with much of the old Southeast Islands House District. That’s the one that includes Haines, Craig, Metlakatla, Hoonah, Angoon, Kake and some other small cities.

State campaign finance reports show incumbent Haines Republican Representative Bill Thomas in the lead, with about $83,000 in contributions. That’s about 40 percent more than his Democratic opponent, Sitka’s Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins.

Together, they’ve raised around $130,000, making this the most expensive Southeast race. (Scroll down for links to recent campaign finance reports.)

Thomas lost Yakutat, Skagway and Cordova from his old district. But he gained Sitka, where half the new area’s constituents live, including his opponent.

He says that means a more expensive advertising campaign.

“You know, we didn’t lose any newspapers. We ended up gaining more newspapers and bigger towns and other things that we haven’t done before. So, it’s going to be spendy,” he says.

This is Kreiss-Tomkins’ first legislative race. So he also needs to raise a significant amount of money to make his presence known.

His approximately $48,000 campaign war chest is far behind Thomas’. But he says it’s not as large a gap as it seems.

“What you’re really seeing is the advantages of incumbency. And you can raise $40,000 before you have an opponent. And that’s the reason why there’s this cash discrepancy. If it started from June 1st, which is when we filed, we’d be up a few thousand,” he says.

Democratic Party organizations gave Kreiss-Tomkins $8,000. State employee unions, teachers and other political action committees contributed another $4,000.

Together, they add up to about a quarter of his overall campaign contributions.

Kreiss-Tomkins’ acknowledges he has less to spend in the House District 34 race. But he says his cadre of volunteers is giving him more bang for his buck.

“We have a grassroots-oriented campaign. It’s basically people talking with people, which we feel is also the kind of politics we believe in,” he says.

Kreiss-Tomkins points to a higher percentage of district contributions than Thomas, many of them relatively small.

The Democrat’s gotten money from the Southeast Alaska Seiners and the United Fishermen of Alaska. And he’s claimed more from individual commercial fishermen, since he filed.

Republican Thomas — a gillnetter, longliner and shrimper — disagrees.

“He claims he has more fish money. But then you look [and] … it’s been raised since [his] general campaign. And I’ve raised almost 11 grand from the fishermen over two years. But it depends on when you report it. He’s playing words pretty good,” he says.

Campaign finance reports from the full fund-raising season show Thomas with more donations from individual fishermen.

The Haines incumbent attracted more than $17,000 from his party’s and other groups’ political action committees. About a fifth of that came from the GOP. The rest included labor organizations, oil PACs, dentists, contractors and the hospitality industry.

Overall, PACs and the party contributed about 20 percent of Thomas’ campaign funds. That’s a larger total, but a smaller percentage, than Kreiss-Tomkins.

Those figures do not include executives or other employees of those groups or companies, so they could be larger.

Despite his incumbency and higher campaign war chest, Thomas thinks of himself as the underdog in the race. Among other things, he has knee problems that limit one-on-one campaigning, a major part of Kreiss-Tomkins’ strategy.

“He was able to bang on all the doors this summer because I was fishing and I don’t think he was working. [That’s a] big difference in lifestyles,” he says.

Kreiss-Tomkins say he did work, though he wasn’t paid, managing a pair of nonprofit programs that bring college students to Sitka to volunteer and share their skills.

As the campaign wraps up, Thomas says his main job is to convince voters of the power of incumbency. That includes his budget-writing duties as co-chairman of the House Finance Committee and his record of funding community projects.

Kreiss-Tomkins says he’ll bring a new approach to representing the new district, and will take different stands on education and other parts of the budget. And, he’s close to his goal of meeting the majority of its population.

“To be representative, I think it’s really important you know who you’re going to represent . And this door-to-door component of the campaign in every community, knocking on every door that’s possible, has been a central component of the campaign,” he says.

Thomas says he’s met with his district’s leaders and other constituents during his four terms in office. And he’s reached out to Sitkans during this campaign.

The most recent campaign reports, released earlier this month, show a significant part of the $130,000 or so Kreiss-Tomkins and Thomas raised was spent on travel, including room and board.

That total is more than double the funds raised in the southern Southeast House race, between Republican Peggy Wilson, Democrat Matt Olsen and independent Kyle Johansen.

It’s also almost a third more than the Senate District Q race, between Republican Bert Stedman and Democrat Albert Kookesh.

Read Thomas’ most recent APOC finance report.

Read Kreiss-Tomkins’ most recent APOC finance report.

Hear a forum with Kreiss-Tomkins and Thomas.

House District 34 Communities:

• Sitka

• Haines

• Craig

• Hoonah

• Hydaburg

• Kake

• Kasaan

• Klawock

• Klukwan

• Metlakatla

• Pelican

• Angoon

• Covenant Life

• Elfin Cove

• Game Creek

• Lutak

• Mosquito Lake

• Mud Bay

• Port Alexander

• Whitestone Logging Camp