Congresswoman Mary Peltola may be in a competitive contest for her re-election, but she’s far ahead of Republican challengers Nancy Dahlstrom and Nick Begich in the race for campaign cash.
In the three months ending June 30, Peltola raised more than $2 million — five times more than any other candidate, according to reports filed Monday with the Federal Election Commission.
Republicans see the Alaska race as an opportunity to flip a seat from blue to red and increase their thin majority, while Democrats have identified Peltola as a seat they need to hold to have any hope of regaining the speaker’s gavel.
Dahlstrom, Alaska’s lieutenant governor, has Donald Trump’s endorsement, and the support of Republican leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives. The GOP congressional support has been a boon for Dahlstrom. About $300,000 of her total comes from Political Action Committees and groups affiliated with the House speaker and majority leader. She raised about $100,000 from individuals.
Peltola raised even more money from Political Action Committees. PACs representing a variety of sectors — including railroads, energy, insurance, Alaska Native Corporations and unions — sent her contributions. But Peltola raised 90% of her total from individuals, mostly through the ActBlue fundraising platform. It allows contributors from around the country to easily give to Democratic candidates.
Republican Nick Begich III has statewide name recognition from his 2022 campaign for the same seat. Begich previously ran a largely self-funded campaign but he reports raising $300,000 from individual contributors over the previous three months, his best quarterly showing yet. He also got a $5,000 contribution from a committee affiliated with the hard-right House Freedom Caucus.
Liz Ruskin is the Washington, D.C., correspondent at Alaska Public Media. Reach her at lruskin@alaskapublic.org. Read more about Liz here.
