The 121-day session (constitutional limit) is already a third of the way through. The House passed the nearly $500 million supplemental budget, but failed to fund it. The finance committees got a sobering briefing on the Permanent Fund from the investment consulting firm Callan. The House Resources Committee passed a bill from committee that directly benefits HEX/Furie owner John Hendrix. Two more people filed to run for the Legislature, including the first person for the open Bethel Senate seat. And some politicos are on the move. 

If you have not seen the newest feature on the Landmine, make sure to check out “Juneau on the Loose: Juneau’s Unofficial Events Calendar.” If you know about or have an event happening in Juneau, like a reception or fundraiser or party, please send me the info (jeff@alaskalandmine.com) and I will get it added to the calendar. Thanks to the people who have sent events so far. There are three for the upcoming week.

A friendly message and reminder to all our readers. The Landmine is made possible by myself and a team of awesome Alaskans. I have been covering the legislative session in Juneau for the last seven years and am now here for my eighth session. We will be covering all the 2026 Alaska elections in-depth. If you enjoy the content we provide, please consider making a one time or recurring monthly donation. You can click here to donate. We have a system that makes it super easy. We would really appreciate it. And thanks to everyone who has been supportive. 

Legislative candidates pull in $1.2 million in first round of reports

The following is an excerpt from a recent special edition of the Alaska Political Report. You can click here for more information about the Political Report. A subscription is $1,299/year per organization. Discounted pricing is available for non-profits and government entities. Our coverage of the budget starts with the governor’s proposed budget, and we track everything in detail through the entire process. If you have any questions or would like to subscribe, please email jeff@akpoliticalreport.com.

More than 60 candidates running for 50 legislative seats filed their first campaign finance reports, which were due on Feb. 17. These reports cover the start of the campaign to Feb. 1, 2026. Candidates are allowed to file for office 18 months prior to the election, which in this case is the August primary. Candidates are not required to indicate if they are running for the House or Senate when filing a letter of intent with APOC, though they often do. Candidates must declare which office they are seeking by June 1, the filing deadline with the Division of Elections. 

Total income from legislative candidates for this reporting period is $1.2 million. Candidates collectively reported almost $148,000 beginning cash on hand – leftover money from prior campaigns candidates are allowed to use for a future campaign. House candidates can transfer $5,000 to a future campaign, and Senate candidates $10,000. Candidates collectively spent over $333,000 on campaign expenses. And after debts, candidates collectively report just under $1 million cash on hand. 

Of the top 20 biggest fundraisers, 17 are incumbents. The largest fundraiser was Anchorage Republican Sen. Cathy Giessel, who reported more than $91,000 in income. The largest non-incumbent fundraiser was former Democratic Rep. Cliff Groh, who is running to win back the seat he lost in 2024 to Anchorage Republican Rep. David Nelson – who is not seeking re-election. Groh reported more than $86,000 in income. 

Below is a summary of candidates’ campaign reports and what seat they are running for, if declared. Note that since a Ninth Circuit ruling in 2021 struck down Alaska’s $500 per year individual-to-candidate contribution limit, and a later APOC order in 2022, individual-to-candidate contributions are unlimited in Alaska. They will remain unlimited unless the Legislature passes a bill with new limits or voters approve a ballot initiative that imposes limits. Neither seem likely for this campaign cycle.  

The next campaign finance report for legislative races, the 30-day report, is due on July 20. Those reports will cover activity from Feb 2. – July 17. 

We are only including detailed analysis for candidates who reported raising more than $20,000. We include a basic analysis for candidates who raised under $20,000. 

If you would like to see the rest of this section, as well as a comprehensive breakdown of the legislative candidates’ APOC reports, please consider subscribing to the Alaska Political Report. Email jeff@akpoliticalreport.com for a copy of the latest special report. 

Supplemental Issues 

The House passed the nearly $500 million FY 2026 supplemental budget, but fell six votes short of the 30 needed to access the Constitutional Budget Reserve (CBR) to fund it. Only three members of the 19-member Republican minority voted to access the CBR. Note that most of the items in the supplemental budget came at the request of Governor Mike Dunleavy (R – Alaska), and represent money already spent on things like wildfire suppression and natural disasters, like Typhoon Halong.

Another key item is the $70 million for highway projects that Dunleavy vetoed last year due to his issues with the funding source. He later put the money back in the supplemental budget. The construction industry is pushing for the money to get funded because it comes with a 9-1 federal match. If the money is not approved they worry about the upcoming summer construction season.

The supplemental bill is now in the Senate. Depending what the Senate does, there are two more opportunities to pass the supplemental budget – either through a concurrence vote if the House agrees with the Senate’s changes or after a conference committee if the House does not agree with the changes. But either way, 15 votes in the Senate and 30 votes in the House are needed to fund it. 

Other Happenings 

Callan CEO Greg Allen and SVP Steven Center presented to the House and Senate Finance Committees on the performance and asset allocation of the Permanent Fund. They also discussed the risks posed by the current structure of the Fund. It was a sobering presentation from people disconnected from Alaska politics. Hearing Allen lay out concise and simple arguments about why drawing too much money from the fund is a bad idea and how the draw rate would actually be higher in the future if we took less now (because of compounding interest) was something a lot of people need to hear. 

The House Resources Committee passed out House Bill 271 by a 7-2 vote. It now heads to the House Finance Committee. The bill is another political handout to John Hendrix. This Landmine article, “House Resources Committee advances bill that directly benefits John Hendrix,” provides more detail. 

As it always seems to happen in Alaska, we may yet again be receiving a bailout from high oil prices following the attack on Iran this weekend. It will take a week or two to understand what the effects on prices will be for the near future, but oil futures are up 10% and some analysts are talking about $100/barrel oil. 

Wayne Morgan, a registered independent from Aniak, filed for the open Senate seat Senator Lyman Hoffman (D – Bethel) is retiring from. He’s the first person to file for the seat since Hoffman announced his retirement last June. Hoffman said he wants Speaker Bryce Edgmon (I – Dillingham) to succeed him, but Edgmon has still not said if he will run for the Senate seat or stay in his House seat. This December Landmine article explains Edgmon’s hesitation. If Edgmon does decide to run for the Senate seat, it will look defensive now instead of offensive.

Representative Justin Ruffridge (R – Soldotna) also picked up an opponent. 

Is Treg Taylor or  his wife Jodi Taylor running for governor?

Guess who the residents of Campbell Lake will be voting for?!

The Anchorage Economic Development Corporation announced Jon Bittner as their new CEO. Congrats, Jon!  

Rick Whitbeck, who recently left his role as Representative Nick Begich’s (R – Alaska) state director, has been hired as the director for strategic engagement for the CDQ group Coastal Village Region Fund. Congrats, Rick!

Vice President JD Vance will be in Anchorage on Friday. It’s not clear yet what his schedule is or where he will be, but sources tell me he will be doing an event for Senator Dan Sullivan (R – Alaska). 

This Week’s Loose Unit

This week saw a lot of deserving candidates, but one stood out. This week’s Loose Unit is Republican gubernatorial candidate Bernadette Wilson. 

The first campaign finance reports came out on February 17. I always do a deep analysis of them for the Alaska Political Report. When I started glancing through Wilson’s one thing immediately jumped out – the sheer number of small donations. But a deeper look revealed one of the strangest campaign finance reports I have ever seen. It’s so convoluted it took nearly as much time to decipher her report than all the others combined.   

After she filed her report, Wilson posted a video to her Facebook page featuring the 1995 song “This Is How We Do It” by Montell Jordan. The 15-second video has a graphic atop prominently displaying “nearly 1500 individual donors” and scrolls through the donation section of her report at a high speed, making it appear she has massive grassroots support. 

But here is where it gets very loose. Wilson is attempting to run a major gaslighting operating. 

Wilson lists 1,066 donations of $50 or less. Of these 1,066 donations, 894 of them, or 83.9%, are from out-of-state. Wilson lists 584 donations of $15 or less. All of these are from out-of-state. So much for all that grassroots support! Maximum loose. 

Wilson’s report also shows an expense of $30,245 to WinRed, a popular Republican fundraising platform for credit card donations. Her report claims the WinRed expense is for, “Credit card processing fees for this reporting cycle.” But WinRed charges a standard processing fee of 3.94% for most donations. Wilson would have needed to raise $780,000 from just credit card donations to justify the $30,245 WinRed fee. 

Wilson appears to be using WinRed to solicit hundreds of small donations to make it appear she has a large grassroots support. But the vast majority of these small donations are from out-of-state, something Wilson left out of her “This Is How We Do It” video.  Classic Loose Unit behavior.

If you have a nomination for this week’s Loose Unit, or if you have any political news, stories or gossip (or any old pics of politicians or public officials) please email me at jeff@alaskalandmine.com.