As a 13-year-old, former Alaska State House Representative Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins headed Vermont Governor Howard Dean's 2004 Presidential campaign in Alaska. He immersed himself in all things political as a high school student, but gave up politics when he got to college at Yale. During his junior year, he was contacted by several people encouraging him to return home to Sitka to run against the incumbent Republican serving in the state house seat, co-chair of the powerful House Finance committee Bill Thomas. Jonathan ran, won, and served for 10 years in the House where his proudest achievement was getting his HB 216 signed into law in 2014 which made 20 Native languages official Alaska state languages. Much of this interview draws from a 2018 Politico story that profiled three young Alaskans: Forrest Dunbar, John-Henry Heckendorn, and our guest Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins.
