Record outside money floods Alaska's Senate race from both sides

The money pouring into Alaska's U.S. Senate race is on track to shatter state records, and it is coming from both directions.

Democrat Mary Peltola's challenge to Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan has become one of a handful of races that could decide control of the Senate, and national groups are treating a small, cheap media market like a major battleground. The latest federal filings capture only the newest drops in that flood: Last Frontier PAC, a group opposing Peltola, reported spending about $2.78 million against her so far this year, while Midnight Sun PAC reported new spending to support her.

The bigger picture is larger still. Peltola's campaign reported raising $8.9 million in the first quarter, which it called a record for any U.S. Senate candidate in Alaska, and she outraised Sullivan several times over, though he has held a cash-on-hand edge. In outside spending, the Democratic-aligned Senate Majority PAC has planned roughly $11 million for the race, while the Republican Senate Leadership Fund has pledged about $15 million to back Sullivan. Ad-tracking firms have clocked millions more from groups on both sides.

Peltola has cast the spending against her as the work of billionaire-backed super PACs. Her opponents' allies, in turn, are spending to tie her to national Democrats. Much of the money on both sides flows through independent expenditure-only committees, which can run messaging the candidates do not control.

The nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center, which faults outside spending both for and against Peltola, argues the scale undermines transparency and voter trust. Alaska's top-four primary is Aug. 18.