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A national Republican organization has put $1.6 million into the Alaska governor’s race — going toe-to-toe with Democratic money that’s also flooded into the state in recent days.
The Republican Governors Association made the transfer Wednesday to Kodiak PAC, an Alaska group that’s working in support of GOP gubernatorial candidates, according to campaign finance disclosures.
A separate donation this week from an arm of the Democratic Governors Association brought its total contribution to a competing group, Forward Frontier, to $1.25 million.
A separate, organized labor-affiliated group, Putting Alaskans First, also reported spending $175,000 this week on radio ads intended to benefit Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, the former state House member who’s the only Democrat in the four-candidate gubernatorial field.
While Kreiss-Tomkins won the primary and remains the heavy favorite among political insiders — and prediction markets — the contribution from the RGA indicates that national Republicans think Alaska is still in play. The group did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.
Fractured GOP field, candidate’s improbable rise could clear path for a Democrat in Alaska governor’s mansion
It’s been more than two decades since Alaska elected a Democratic governor.
“I’m sort of surprised they’re even bothering at this point,” said Jim Lottsfeldt, a centrist political consultant who’s working with groups supporting Kreiss-Tomkins’ campaign. “It’s hard to imagine any of the Republicans prevailing. But I guess they have plenty of money.”
One unanswered question about the Republicans’ participation in the race is what message they will broadcast — and whether they’ll try to boost one of the GOP candidates over the others.
GOP activist Bernadette Wilson was the top-ranked Republican in the August primary, ahead of former Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson and former Alaska Attorney General Treg Taylor .
Numerous conservatives, including Bronson and Taylor, have warned that GOP infighting could cost Republicans the governor’s race — if negative campaigning causes voters to choose just one or two of the three GOP candidates in Alaska’s ranked choice voting system..
But Wilson hasn’t played along, labeling both Bronson and Taylor as “spoilers” and asking them to suspend their campaigns.
Independent groups like Kodiak PAC are barred by law from working directly with candidates. Reached by phone Thursday, officials with both the campaigns of Republicans Dave Bronson and Treg Taylor said they hadn’t heard about the $1.6 million contribution.
“We hope this money goes to something that benefits the Republican Party in a ranked choice voting scenario,” said a spokesperson for Bronson. “It’s news to us.”
April Gettys, Taylor’s campaign manager, also denied any knowledge of the RGA’s donation or Kodiak PAC’s plans.
“As of right now, the campaign doesn’t know anything about the PAC,” she said.
Wilson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A spokesperson for Kreiss-Tomkins also didn’t respond to a request for comment. His campaign sent a fundraising email earlier Thursday criticizing a new ad from Wilson that attacks him for raising campaign funds from employees of artificial intelligence companies and labeling him as “Chat JKT.”