Alaska’s state campaigns have operated without any campaign finance limits since a federal judge struck them down in 2021, and the money has poured in. In the run-up to the 2024 election, candidates cashed checks as high as $30,000, 60 times more than the old $500 per year limit allowed.
A bill passed by the Alaska House on Monday seeks to put a stop to that.
House Bill 16 by Rep. Calvin Schrage, I-Anchorage, would reinstate campaign contribution limits for candidates, setting a $2,000 limit for campaign cycles that would be adjusted for inflation afterward. Schrage said he believes the changes would solve the constitutional issues raised by the judge.
“This bill would allow us to reinstate those limits and again provide that protection to Alaskans and frankly to us as elected officials in helping to ensure that there is some faith and confidence among Alaskans in their elected officials acting with integrity and not having undue influence on them by outsized donations,” he said during the debate on Monday, noting that Alaska voters have twice before approved contribution limits through voter initiative. “This is something that Alaskans very clearly want.”
A third voter initiative to restore campaign finance limits has already gathered signatures and is slated to appear on the 2026 ballot. That measure would be bumped off the ballot under the Alaska Constitution, which allows the Legislature to preempt an initiative by passing a substantially similar law. Schrage was one of the primary sponsors of the initiative campaign and said Alaskans don’t want to wait.
“I think Alaskans would prefer, however, that we act more quickly, that we put these limits in place now and forgo the expense and burden of having to have this on the ballot,” he said.
Still, campaign finance limits have faced an uphill battle since they were overturned.
Similar efforts to pass campaign contribution limits have died in both the House and Senate over the recent years, with one of the big sticking points being Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s opposition to any limits. Dunleavy, who has deep-pocketed backers, has benefited heavily from the unlimited contributions.
Rep. Sarah Vance, a Homer Republican and close Dunleavy ally, argued against instituting any campaign contribution limits, arguing that it infringed on free speech.
“I believe in Alaskans’ right to free speech, and the courts have ruled that political contributions are free speech,” she said. “We’ve gone through an entire election cycle without any limits. And I have not once heard on record any specific Alaskan contributions that have given the appearance or showed proof of corruption.”
She also complained that the measure does nothing about independent expenditure campaign spending — groups that are allowed to raise and spend unlimited amounts of cash on races in Alaska as long as they don’t directly coordinate with candidates. Schrage noted that that type of spending is the direct result of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on Citizens United and cannot be reined in.
Vance and all but one Dunleavy-aligned Republican voted against the measure. Moderate Soldotna Republican Rep. Justin Ruffridge was the lone member of the House Minority Caucus to vote for the measure.
It ultimately passed 22-18, and is already scheduled for a hearing in the Senate later this week.
Matt Acuña Buxton is a long-time political reporter who has written for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and The Midnight Sun political blog. He also authors the daily politics newsletter, The Alaska Memo, and can frequently be found live-tweeting public meetings on Bluesky.
