By admin 
A Fairbanks fire captain’s campaign raised over $72,000. A retired Kodiak school teacher and union leader’s campaign raised nearly $71,000. A Clam Gulch fisherman’s campaign raised over $45,000. All three candidates are independents running for Republican-held seats in the Alaska State House.
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Democratic and independent candidates for the Alaska State House are largely out-fundraising Republican opponents in races for Republican-held seats. Of 17 seats held by Republicans that have a Democratic or independent challenger, that challenger is outraising the Republican in 11 races.
According to campaign disclosure reports filed with the Alaska Public Offices Commission ahead of the August primary election, Democratic and independent candidates outpaced Republicans in fundraising for races in Fairbanks, Anchorage, the Kenai Peninsula and Kodiak and Prince William Sound. Some are political newcomers and some have run for the Legislature before.
Jenny-Marie Stryker, executive director of the Alaska Democratic Party, said she’s not surprised.
”When donors are giving overarchingly to one side of the movement, it’s because they’re looking for something different. And they’re clearly taking a look at the other side and seeing that they have a better return on their investment when they’re investing in coalition-minded leaders, who really want to put Alaska first,” she said.
There are some notable exceptions. Six Republican incumbents — mostly in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough — have out-fundraised Democrat and independent opponents.
All forty members of the Alaska State House are up for re-election. In the 34th Alaska State Legislature, there was a tight margin between the 21-member multipartisan House Majority caucus and the 19 members of the all-Republican House Minority caucus leading to close votes on major legislation. If one or more Republican held seats flip, it could boost the majority caucus — made up of a mix of Republicans, Democrats and independents — and its priorities.
Alaska House Representatives serve two-year terms, representing roughly 18,335 Alaskans in each district.
Campaign donations are just one way to gauge support for candidates. Financial disclosures include donations from individuals, industry and political interest groups, and political action committees.
In several races, Democratic and independent candidates gathered donations from a variety of individual Alaskans. Some are backed by unions, political interest groups or the Alaska Democratic Party. In some competitive races, some candidates — Republicans, Democrats and independents — gave large donations or personal loans to their own campaigns.
The majority of Alaska’s approximately 603,000 voters are unaffiliated with a political party. A September report by the Alaska Division of Elections shows that 63% were registered as nonpartisan or undeclared in the August primary.
An estimated 23.5% of voters are registered Republican and 11.6% registered Democrat. The remaining roughly 3% of voters are registered with a variety of other small political parties.
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Candidates of all political affiliations are making their bids for those independent voters. The ranked choice general election is just six weeks away.
An independent is leading in donations and primary votes in Fairbanks
In Fairbanks, independent Joy Beth Cottle has a significant financial advantage over Republican Harmony Tomaszewski. The two are running for a seat vacated by Tomaszewski’s husband, former Republican Rep. Frank Tomaszewski, who is running for the Alaska Senate. House District 34 extends across Steele Creek, Two Rivers, Eielson Air Force Base and Salcha.
Cottle, a fire captain and paramedic based in Delta Junction, has raised more than $72,000 as of the week before the election. Dozens of small, individual donors have contributed to Cottle, as well as larger donations from unions representing laborers, plumbers and pipefitters, and public employees. Political action committees for Fairbanks Firefighters, the local Teamsters union and NEA-Alaska, the public teachers union, donated to Cottle’s campaign.
Republican Harmony Tomaszewski, a small business owner in Fairbanks, raised nearly $34,000 as of a week before the election. She raised a variety of large and small donations from individual donors and the Republican Women of Fairbanks. She also gave a $5,000 personal loan to the campaign.
Former Republican Sen. Rob Myers of Fairbanks — who is vacating the seat that Rep. Frank Tomaszewski is running for — donated $2,000 to Harmony Tomaszewski’s campaign.
In the primary election, Cottle won by just 280 votes, or 53% of the vote, compared to Tomaszewski who won 47% of votes cast in the district.
Cottle said her district has been particularly impacted by the increases in cost of fuel driven by the Trump administration’s U.S. war on Iran. “A lot of people are hurting specifically because of this war,” she said.
“Some of the platforms and initiatives from the GOP aren’t as popular these days because people are trying to fill their fuel tanks. I know up here in Fairbanks, just about every door that I knock, people are waiting for their PFD, but they also know that’s not going to be enough to get their fuel tanks filled. And we’re looking at really high energy costs going into the winter as well,” she said.
Nearby in Fairbanks’ House District 33 race, independent Pepper McFarland and Republican Barbara Haney are challenging Republican incumbent Mike Prax, who has held the seat representing the North Pole and Badger areas since 2019.
McFarland, a teacher based in North Pole, has out-fundraised both Republican opponents, though she trailed them in votes in the primary election.
A week before the primary, she reported collecting nearly $23,000 from dozens of donors as well as unions like the Alaska State Employees Association and NEA-Alaska teachers union.