Rep. Mary Peltola has many times the cash on hand in her campaign than either Nick Begich or Nancy Dahlstrom have. Yet, she is currently conning sympathetic Alaskans into thinking that she has no money to run a campaign on.
In her recent fundraising letter, Peltola said that the Decision Desk HQ modeling shows her slipping into the loss category, and she begs people to send money to her campaign — money that she says she will split 50-50 with the Alaska Democratic Party.
Here’s the pitch she is using:
“I hate emailing you with bad news…” said her subject line.
“I’ve been dreading a moment like this … Decision Desk HQ is projecting that my far-right opponents are now favored to win the race,” she wrote.
“But here’s the good news, and why I need you to step up: Even though my opponents are slightly favored right now, this race is still a total tossup,” Peltola said, untruthfully.
“So here’s what I’m going to do: I’m going to spend these next months putting all of my energy into winning this race, so I can keep fighting for our pro-fish, pro-choice, pro-jobs, pro-freedom agenda,” she continued.
“But [Friend], I don’t want to wake up the day after the election regretting not doing more, and I’m sure you don’t either! So please, can you split $25 between the Alaska Democratic Party and me before midnight so I can expand my campaign’s voter turnout efforts and win? Without your support, my opponents have a real shot at winning,” Peltola wrote.
A look at Decision Desk HQ does not show what Peltola claims it shows.
Right now, she is modeled by that analytic tool as favored to win Alaska. Not only that, she had at least $3.6 million in her war chest this spring; as of July 31 her cash on hand was $2,836,013.45. Money is pouring in.
Peltola was showing her potential donors some old data from June 11, when the race was a possible tossup, according to the Decision Desk HQ model. And she is concealing the fact that she has raised far more than the late Congressman Don Young ever raised. In the 2020 cycle, Young raised $1,950,289, while Peltola this year, through the miracle of the Act Blue donor system, has raised $7,541,673.
The Decision Desk HQ July 18 modeling clearly says: “Our model currently predicts that Mary Peltola has a 52% chance of winning Alaska At Large.”
It doesn’t hurt that several large political action committee are working on her behalf so she can sit on her campaign treasure chest.
Compared to the cash on hand of her opponents, she is now the big dog in the fight in a state that Cook Political Report rates as a +8 Republican state.
