Former Alaska US House Rep. Mary Peltola, the Democrat who sat for two years in Congress, has yet to announce her political plans for 2026, but the money has been dripping in from far beyond Alaska.
According to her latest Federal Election Commission filing, Peltola raised over $90,600 in the second quarter of 2025, an unusually large haul for a politician who is not currently in office and has not declared her candidacy for any race.
But wait: Almost $54,000 of that is from a fundraising list that she sold to a fundraising company based in Lincoln, Nebraska. She sold donors names and phone numbers. She sold their addresses and giving propensity scores.
Readers can view the FEC reports here.
She received $8,500 in PAC contributions from the Cache Pac in Virginia and the SD PAC of Washington DC gave her $5,000 in this reporting period. In terms of individual donors, she only raised $28,000 and had to refund over 20% of it ($6,000).
Most of her individual donations came from East Coast donors, including Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, and Washington, D.C., fueling speculation that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is being successful in rallying Democratic support for Peltola to take on Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan next year. Further underscoring that speculation is that her expenditures show several meetings at the National Democratic Club in the past three months.
Alaska political observers have been buzzing for months about Peltola’s next move. She has stayed quiet about her intentions, but behind the scenes, top Democratic operatives at the national level are urging her to challenge Sullivan, who is up for reelection in 2026.
It’s important to note that before the final count was tallied in November, Peltola refiled for the House seat and is still considered an active candidate on paper.
Others believe Peltola may have her eye on the open governor’s seat, as Gov. Mike Dunleavy is term-limited.
However, under federal campaign finance law, the funds she has raised can only be used for a federal race — meaning the House or Senate.
She has spent money from her federal account and only has $78,531 cash on hand. Many expenditures were for apparent meetings in Juneau, and Washington, DC. Here’s a snapshot of a few of those meetings:
She also spent tens of thousands of dollars on travel to and from Washington, DC, and has several undisclosed expenditures that are simply listed as her American Express card.
During the first quarter of the year, Peltola has a negative in the net contributions reporting at FEC — she had to refund more money than she took in during the first quarter.
If she chooses to run for governor, Peltola would have to start fresh with state-eligible funds. If she runs for Senate, she enters the race with a modest start in fundraising.
Meanwhile, in the House race, Republican incumbent Congressman Nick Begich has already raised more than $800,000 this year, with over $1.25 million cash on hand. Given Begich’s strong fundraising performance and the fact that he is seen as a rising star in Washington, political insiders say it’s increasingly unlikely Peltola will attempt to reclaim her old House seat.
The clock is ticking. By this time next year Alaska ballots will already be printed and on their way in the mail to overseas voters. The deadline to file for office is next June 1, meaning Peltola will be making a decision soon.
For now, her fundraising is unimpressive, depending mostly on the selling out of her donors names, addresses, phone numbers, and propensity for giving.
