Peltola ad accuses Sullivan of STOCK Act violation as GOP outspends Democrats 2-to-1 in Alaska Senate race

Republican-aligned groups have reserved $15 million in Alaska Senate airtime against $6.4 million on the Democratic side, a spending gap that frames a new TV ad from Mary Peltola's campaign targeting Sen. Dan Sullivan over stock trading disclosures tied to Alaska's fishing industry. The reservation figures and ad language were surfaced by AdImpact in a July 8 post on X.

The ad, captured Wednesday by ad-tracking firm AdImpact, states: "Dan Sullivan tripled the size of his fortune while in office. He even broke Congress' insider trading law." The allegation rests on a 2022 Business Insider report that found Sullivan filed late disclosures for two stock sales, including holdings in Mowi, the world's largest farmed-salmon company and a direct competitor to Alaska's fishing industry, and Five Below, both beyond the STOCK Act's 45-day deadline. A late disclosure is a compliance violation; it does not establish that a trade was made on nonpublic information. Sullivan's campaign had not responded as of Wednesday. Allied groups including End Citizens United and StopBigMoney amplified the ethics message the same day, framing the race around Peltola's pledge to ban congressional stock trading.

The spending gap is set to widen. Peltola says Sullivan's side already has $20 million in outside spending pledged, a figure she attributes in part to a Supreme Court ruling that overturned decades of precedent by allowing political parties to spend unlimited amounts in direct coordination with candidates. Peltola warned supporters to expect "we're expecting an onslaught of attack ads within the next few weeks." The Aug. 18 primary is the next electoral marker.