Alaska News

Sullivan leads Begich in latest US Senate fundraising haul

Democratic incumbent U.S. Sen. Mark Begich reported raising $1.9 million in the third quarter of the year, trailing the fundraising haul claimed by his Republican opponent, Dan Sullivan.

Begich's campaign on Sunday electronically filed its most recent financial disclosure with the Federal Election Commission, which showed the campaign raised $1.5 million in August and September.

Sullivan's campaign said in a news release last week that it raised $2.8 million in the third quarter. On Wednesday, it released summary figures of its most recent filings showing the campaign raised $2.5 million in August and September.

While Sullivan raised more money during the period, figures from both campaigns show that each entered the final stretch of the campaign with essentially the same amount of cash. Begich had $1.2 million on Sept. 30, while Sullivan had $1.16 million.

Begich's campaign published its full filing on its website; it is also available from the FEC -- though the campaign did not issue a news release publicizing its third-quarter numbers.

Sullivan's campaign, by contrast, announced its third quarter numbers in a news release, though it has not published its third quarter filing, which is required to be postmarked to the FEC by Wednesday.

Sullivan's campaign manager, Ben Sparks, would not provide a copy of the campaign's full filing, saying reporters could review it when it's received by the FEC.

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"It should be available soon," he said.

Both campaigns touted the amount of money they'd raised from Alaska donors. A spokesman for Begich's campaign said in an email that the campaign received $400,000 in individual contributions from over 2,300 Alaskans in the third quarter, while the Sullivan campaign said in a news release that it raised over $400,000 "in the state of Alaska."

Begich's filings also included a few high-profile Hollywood donors, from director Steven Spielberg to actors Ted Danson and Sam Waterston to movie executive Jeffrey Katzenberg. He also collected contributions from a pair of Democratic U.S. senators, Dianne Feinstein of California and Mark Warner of Virginia.

Begich also reported $11,000 in donations from a committee called the Grassroots Victory Project 2014, which capitalizes on a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning rules that said individual donors could give no more than $48,600 to federal candidates in a single election cycle.

The Alaska Democratic Party also received $81,000 from the committee, according to a filing last week from Grassroots Victory Project.

Sullivan received $115,000 from a similar Republican group, Founders Senate Candidate Committee, which filed its own disclosure last week. That group counts among its donors a board member from conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation, as well as the president and CEO of the discount Dollar Tree store chain.

Sullivan also received $150,000 from Floridians for a Senate Majority, for which former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush held a fundraiser in September, first reported by the Center for Responsive Politics.

Nathaniel Herz

Anchorage-based independent journalist Nathaniel Herz has been a reporter in Alaska for nearly a decade, with stints at the Anchorage Daily News and Alaska Public Media. Read his newsletter, Northern Journal, at natherz.substack.com

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