Sen. Dan Sullivan and former Rep. Mary Peltola participated in a candidate forum during the Alaska Oil & Gas Association’s 10th annual conference at the Dena’ina Center in Anchorage on Aug. 27. (Bill Roth / ADN)

Alaska’s U.S. Senate race has officially become the most expensive on record for the state, as Democrat Mary Peltola raises record sums in her effort to defeat Republican incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan.

Peltola, a former member of the U.S. House, reported earlier this month that her campaign had raised $32 million since launching in January — more than any congressional candidate in Alaska — with weeks remaining before the campaign wraps up.

Peltola brought in more than twice the amount raised by Sullivan, who reported raising $13 million.

This year’s Senate race breaks a fundraising record previously set when Sullivan last ran for office in 2020. At the time, the candidates raised a combined total of $28 million.

Alaska’s U.S. Senate seat is seen as one of a handful that could determine who controls the chamber after next month’s midterm elections, a fact that has driven record-setting spending that is flooding Alaskans’ airwaves, phones and mailboxes with advertising.

Accounting for Alaska’s 604,771 registered voters, spending by the U.S. Senate candidates alone amounts to more than $70 per voter, and that’s before adding in the expenditures by political action committees and other independent groups seeking to sway Alaska voters.

Independent groups have spent a combined total of more than $80 million on the race — including $33 million opposing Peltola and $30 million opposing Sullivan — according to the website OpenSecrets, which aggregates data from the Federal Election Commission.

But past election results indicate that excessive spending in Alaska can have diminishing returns.

Sullivan, who is seeking his third term in the Senate, was out-raised by his opponents both of the previous times he has run for office, including in 2020 when independent challenger Al Gross raised more than $19 million, relative to Sullivan’s $10 million. Sullivan still handily beat Gross by more than 12 percentage points.

[Trump administration announces hundreds of millions in federal funding for Alaska as election nears]

Early voting in Alaska began Monday, with 26,450 votes cast by midday Thursday. Some voters said they hoped that casting their ballot would put an end to the incessant phone calls and text messages they were receiving.

Spending trends indicate that political advertising is set to continue dominating Alaskans’ screen time in the days leading up to the election. Peltola’s campaign spent more than $10 million on ad buys between July and September while Sullivan spent $2.3 million on ad buys, which reserve screen time on television networks and digital platforms.

Alaska’s ranked choice general election ballot is also set to include two other U.S. Senate candidates: Republicans Gerald Heikes and Dan J. Sullivan, one of numerous Alaskans who share the incumbent’s name. The namesake challenger, a retired schoolteacher from Petersburg, reported raising just under $20,000 for his campaign, most of which has gone to cover his legal fees after the state sought to remove his name from the ballot.

U.S. House race

Republican incumbent Rep. Nick Begich reported raising around $850,000 between July and September, bringing his overall haul this cycle to $6.5 million.

Begich faces independent challenger Bill Hill, who reported raising $1 million in the same time frame, narrowly out-raising Begich. But Hill’s overall haul since entering the race in January is only $2.3 million, far below Begich’s figure.

Candidates for Alaska’s U.S. House seat Nick Begich III (Republican incumbent) and Bill Hill (independent). (Photos by Bill Roth / ADN)

Separately, Wheel Dog PAC, a political expenditure group, has raised over $7 million this year to support Hill’s candidacy.

Ahead of the 2024 election, Begich raised just $2.8 million but still defeated Peltola, who raised more than $13 million that cycle.

[PACs backing Bill Hill discourage votes for incarcerated Democrat in Alaska’s U.S. House race]