Political consultant Joseph Lurtsema has been hustling and scamming Republican candidates for years. This year he’s also a candidate himself. Lurtsema, a Republican, is challenging Representative Calvin Schrage (I – Anchorage). The primary results were not great for Lurtsema. Current numbers show Schrage 30 points ahead of him, 65% o 35%.

Landmine readers may recall Lurtsema was the Loose Unit in early January 2023. After taking in more than $264,000 in the 2022 cycle, Lurtsema spent a few months with his then-progressive girlfriend traveling around the world. From the Loose Unit section:

Anyhoo, Lurtsema has been enjoying the spoils since the November election. According to various Facebook posts, since November 8, 2022 he’s been to Aruba, London, Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris, Switzerland, Venice, Rome, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates with his new, very progressive girlfriend. Dude has been traveling and partying for almost two months. In one cringe-worthy video, Lurtsema can be seen standing on a bar “making it rain” cash on several bartenders, who seem unimpressed.

Lurtsema is well-known for outsourcing to the Philippines, which results in low-effort work that doesn’t show much, if any, understanding of Alaska. It’s mystifying that candidates keep paying Lurtsema to essentially act as a high-cost middleman for the type of work you’d pay a few bucks for on Fivrr.

Lurtsema has again been busy this cycle hustling several Republican legislative candidates. According to Alaska Public Offices Commission (APOC) campaign finance reports, nine Republican legislative candidates have collectively paid Lurtsema’s companies more than $62,000 for a variety of campaign related services. Lurtsema owns two companies, Mobibiz Marketing and Lurtsema Communications. 

All but two of these candidates had disappointing primary performances. Five of them did really poorly. There’s almost an inverse relationship between the amount of money someone pays Lurtsema and how well they do.

Here is a list of the candidates who paid him, and how much:

• Senator Kelly Merrick (R – Eagle River) – $17,300
• Elexie Moore – $10,770
• Rob Yundt – $8,520
• Jubilee Underwood – $8,050
• Heather Gottshall – $5,500
• Lucy Bauer – $5,100
• Representative Tom McKay (R – Anchorage) – $4,850
• Dawson Slaughter – $2,500
• Mike Cronk – $200

Kelly Merrick is currently in a dead heat with her main Republican opponent, Jared Goecker. They each have just over 33% of the vote in the five-way primary. That’s a bad showing for an incumbent who got more than half the vote in the 2022 four-way primary.

Elexie Moore, a first time candidate, is currently in third place with 23.4%, behind Representative Jesse Sumner (R – Wasilla) and Republican Steve Menard. Sumner, who withdrew today, did not campaign at all. And Menard’s APOC reports indicate he did not raise or spend any money. Moore paid nearly all of the money she raised to Lurtsema. She reported $700 cash on hand on her last report. 

Rob Yundt is faring better than the others. He’s in second place with 32.8%. But unlike Elexie Moore, Yundt has raised a lot more money and reports $18,000 cash on hand. He’s also on the Mat-Su Borough Assembly, so people in the Valley know him already. 

Jubilee Underwood is getting absolutely smoked by Representative David Eastman (R – Wasilla). Many Republicans had high hopes that she would defeat Eastman. That’s not going to happen. Underwood’s last report shows her at a deficit of $25. 

Heather Gottshall, a first time candidate, is 12 points behind Representative Andy Josephson (D – Anchorage). 

Lucy Bauer, like Rob Yundt, is faring better than the others. But Bauer is mega wealthy and has dumped $25,000 of her own money into her campaign. 

Representative Tom McKay is in bad shape. To be fair, he paid Lurtsema the bulk of the money before he switched to run in the Senate race. 

Dawson Slaughter. Yikes.

Representative Mike Cronk only paid Lurtsema $200. He’s doing just fine.

There’s still more than two months left to the November general election. It’s anyone’s guess how much more money Lurtsema will be paid between now and then. Where will the money go? Will Lurtsema be “making it rain” on a new set of disinterested bartenders? We’ll be watching!