With just a week remaining before Election Day, the financial contest over Alaska’s election laws has revealed a massive funding disparity, as supporters of the state’s voting system far outspend a group seeking to repeal it. The campaign defending the state’s statutes has amassed $10.4 million this year, outpacing the repeal effort by more than four-to-one.
Ballot Measure 2 proposes to dismantle Alaska’s open primaries, ranked-choice general elections, and campaign finance reporting requirements. While the “No on 2” committee has pulled in $10.4 million—including $1.7 million since the start of the month—the campaign backing the repeal has raised $2.5 million.
The existing election framework was established by voters through a ballot initiative in 2020. An effort to repeal the open primary and ranked-choice voting system failed narrowly in 2024. In that cycle, the campaign opposing the initiative raised a total of $14.8 million, while a group supporting that year’s repeal effort raised less than $170,000, prompting the sponsor to characterize it as a “David and Goliath story.”
Financial Backing and High-Profile Endorsements
The push to overturn the election system has drawn support from prominent figures and organizations, including leaders of the Alaska Republican Party, Elon Musk, and other outside megadonors. President Donald Trump has criticized the state’s voting procedures, while statewide Republican leaders—including Gov. Mike Dunleavy and the Republican candidates running to succeed him—have formally endorsed the initiative.
Conversely, the “No on 2” committee counts wealthy outside donors among its backers, such as billionaire Kathryn Murdoch, who has invested heavily in promoting Alaska’s election reform since 2020. Keeping the current laws is also supported by a broad coalition of Alaskans, including leaders of bipartisan coalitions in the House and Senate, labor unions, and the Alaska Federation of Natives.
Sponsors of the current repeal effort have attempted to utilize a network of Republican donors to close the fundraising gap, but they continue to lag behind the heavy advertising expenditures funded by the defense campaign.
Core Arguments Over Open Primaries and Disclosure Laws
The debate centers heavily on how the voting apparatus alters election outcomes. Proponents of the repeal focus largely on the top-four ranked-choice general election system, utilizing the slogan “yes to end the mess” and highlighting unusual outcomes, such as a namesake challenger in the U.S. Senate race and an East Coast felon running for the state’s U.S. House seat.
Meanwhile, the “No on 2” campaign downplays the frequency of ranked-choice calculations, which only take effect if the leading candidate fails to secure more than 50% of the vote. Instead, supporters of the current system emphasize the open primary format, which they argue fosters bipartisanship in the Legislature and favors moderate candidates. They also stress the significance of campaign disclosure rules that would be dissolved under Ballot Measure 2, regulations that currently make it possible to track the names of political spenders who otherwise funnel their money through so-called “dark money” groups.
Recent polling indicates a tight race for the initiative. With early voting underway, more than 58,000 Alaskans have already cast their ballots ahead of Election Day.
