Alaska’s general election ballot this week wasn’t just stacked with a second “Dan Sullivan” to confuse voters out of re-electing the Republican senator. Democrats also propped up a Republican perennial candidate, Gerald Heikes, using money funneled through Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s political operation and a longtime Alaska Democrat consultant named Jim Lottsfeldt.
A New York Times report lays out the ties between Lottsfeldt, who runs pro-Peltola super PACs, and the campaign staff of Democrat Mary Peltola, saying the two sides met regularly as part of a year-long push to help Peltola win Tuesday’s election.
Lottsfeldt’s involvement in Alaska Democrat money operations goes back over a decade. In 2013 he founded Put Alaska First and served as its treasurer. FEC records show 86 percent of that PAC’s funding came from Senate Majority PAC, the super PAC aligned with Senate Democrat leadership and staffed by Schumer allies. The PAC also used the same media buyer as Senate Majority PAC.
In 2020, Lottsfeldt ran Independent Alaska, the super PAC backing Al Gross, who was the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee’s preferred candidate that cycle.
In both 2022 and 2024, Lottsfeldt served as treasurer of Vote Alaska Before Party, another pro-Peltola super PAC. That committee funneled millions into Heikes’ congressional campaigns, money that came from House Majority PAC — House Democrat leadership’s equivalent of Senate Majority PAC. House Majority PAC gave Lottsfeldt’s PAC $1.7 million in 2022 and $4.48 million in October 2024.
Heikes made it onto the 2026 general election ballot only after Democrat David Leslie, who had finished fourth in the primary, dropped out of the race.
Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy ordered an investigation into the scheme last week, citing what he called “disturbing new evidence of an organized effort to manipulate Alaska’s elections.”
Lottsfeldt has denied any role in boosting Heikes. But a super PAC called Alaska Values spent $1.7 million propping up spoiler candidates, including Heikes, and paperwork lists Lottsfeldt as a consultant to that committee. The New York Times report notes Alaska Values filings show Lottsfeldt requested radio airtime for the PAC in October.
