Peltola reports $16 million raised, accuses Sullivan of taking $400K from trawling industry

Peltola made the accusation alongside a fundraising announcement: her campaign has raised more than $16 million from over 131,000 donors at an average of less than $50. She said the contest is "shaping up to be the most competitive Senate race in the country."

The announcement is framed around ikayuquluta, a Yup'ik principle meaning working together and helping one another, which Peltola describes as both her governing philosophy and the spirit behind her grassroots campaign. She also highlighted moments of breaking with her party, including supporting striking rail workers and standing against attempts to harm Alaska's resource development, drawing a contrast with what she called officials more focused on party leaders than on Alaskans.

Subsistence fishing communities along the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers have faced salmon shortages and recurring closures in recent years, the conditions Peltola points to in criticizing the trawling industry. The North Pacific Fishery Management Council, which established a salmon bycatch management program for the Bering Sea pollock fishery in 2011, maintains hard caps, performance standards, and real-time hotspot reporting to control Chinook and chum salmon bycatch. Critics, including subsistence advocates and Peltola's campaign, argue those measures have not resolved the salmon declines affecting rural and Alaska Native communities that rely on the fish for food security.