Anonymous texts push Eric Hafner, but no group has reported spending to support him

Two groups backing Bill Hill reported more than $100,000 in spending against Eric Hafner in the last week of October, federal filings show. No group has reported spending to support him.

But on Wednesday evening, Alaskans received text messages urging Democrats to vote for Hafner. The texts didn't say who sent them.

The message came with a graphic reading "Vote Democrat." It opened with "!!Breaking News!!" and said Hill "refuses to commit to caucusing with Democrats, leaving the door open to joining the MAGA Republicans in Congress."

"Thankfully, Alaska Democrats have a real choice: Eric Hafner," it said. It ended, "Don't throw your vote away: Vote Democrat, Vote Hafner."

Hill, who is running as a nonpartisan, declined in July to say whether he would caucus with Democrats or Republicans, saying his loyalty is to Alaskans.

Hafner, the only candidate on the Nov. 3 ballot listed as a Democrat, is serving a 20-year federal prison sentence in New York. The text doesn't mention that.

Under ranked-choice voting, a ballot that ranks only Hafner stops counting once he is eliminated. In 2024, when he was the first candidate out, more than a third of his 3,558 ballots had no next choice and dropped out of the count.

A screenshot of the text posted to Reddit's r/alaska forum under the title "Please don't fall for this" drew dozens of comments.

A similar unsigned text went out before the August primary, saying Hafner "stands with Bernie Sanders" and "will stop Trump," as reported by the Anchorage Daily News.

Federal filings don't show who paid for the texts. Every report of independent spending through Nov. 1 that names Eric Hafner lists money spent against him, more than $560,000 in all, from the same two groups: Wheel Dog PAC and CFFE PAC.

Those groups have told voters Republicans are behind Hafner. Wheel Dog's ads call him a "fake Dem" and a "Republican plant," according to Meta's Ad Library, and a CFFE ad says "Washington Republicans had backed Hafner."

In 2024, when the Alaska Democratic Party sued to keep Hafner off the ballot, the Alaska Republican Party joined the case on the side of the state elections division, which defended listing him.

Hafner's own campaign hasn't reported raising or spending any money.

What the records show

Three groups reported paying for text messages sent in the House race Wednesday, according to Federal Election Commission filings. None of those filings names Hafner, and none says what the messages said.

• No Going Back PAC, one of the largest outside groups backing Republican Rep. Nick Begich, reported two $5,040 entries for texts through Caliber Contact, an Alexandria, Virginia, company. One was listed as supporting Republican Rep. Nick Begich and the other as opposing Hill.

• The NRA Political Victory Fund reported $1,078 for texts supporting Begich.

• Wheel Dog PAC, Hill's main outside backer, reported $3,300 for texts supporting Hill.

Texts cost far less than TV. From Oct. 27 to Oct. 30, Wheel Dog reported $920,000 for TV ads and about $6,700 for texts.

In the last 20 days before an election, groups must report independent spending within 24 hours each time it adds up to $1,000 or more for a race. A buy under that wouldn't need a 24-hour notice, but would generally show up on the group's next regular report.

Alaska News also searched Meta's and Google's political ad libraries, Snapchat's political ad archive and the political files Alaska broadcasters keep with the Federal Communications Commission on Friday. None showed a paid ad promoting Eric Hafner. The ads that named him were all against him.

Where the money did show up

Before the August primary, a new super PAC called Fair Deal Alaska reported about $682,000 supporting two U.S. Senate candidates, Democrat Carol "Kitty" Hafner and Green Party candidate Richard Grayson, on media, mail, calls and texts. It also reported about $154,000 against Democrat Mary Peltola.

Of the $850,000 it raised, $650,000 came from the Senate Leadership Fund, a national super PAC that backs Republican Senate candidates, and $100,000 came from Last Frontier PAC, which has reported more than $10 million against Peltola or for Sen. Dan Sullivan. Neither Carol Hafner nor Grayson advanced to the general election.

In the general election, Alaska Values PAC, a super PAC with a Wisconsin address that hasn't named a donor in its filings, has reported about $1.88 million in spending supporting Republican Gerald Heikes through Oct. 29, and the same amount against Sullivan. That includes ads urging voters to rank Heikes first and leave Sullivan blank.

Most groups' next regular reports to the FEC, covering spending through Nov. 23, are due Dec. 3.