Alaska Congresswoman Mary Peltola is far ahead of her Republican challengers in campaign fundraising. She raked in $1.7 million in the first three months of the year.
About 90 percent of that is from individuals. But, like most incumbents in Congress, she also received dozens of contributions from political action committees. Many of the committees are affiliated with unions and trade associations. PACs related to oil and coal companies also gave to Peltola, a Democrat who has acted to support domestic oil and gas development.
The Republican contenders raised just a fraction of Peltola’s haul during the first quarter of the year. Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom’s total came to $260,000. Nick Begich III, relying almost exclusively on individual contributors, is only about $40,000 behind Dahlstrom, but Dahlstrom’s campaign finance report shows signs of continued fundraising might. Several political action committees linked to House Republican leaders gave to Dahlstrom. One, the Congressional Leadership Fund, is also making independent expenditures to support her candidacy. So far, the fund has spent $75,000 on pro-Dahlstrom ads, and it can spend more: Federal law puts no limit on independent expenditures.
Peltola is also benefiting from independent expenditures. A group called Center Forward Committee has bought ads worth $300,000 to support her. The organization promotes moderate candidates.
Liz Ruskin is the Washington, D.C., correspondent at Alaska Public Media. Reach her at lruskin@alaskapublic.org. Read more about Liz here.
