Alaska's fight over ranked-choice voting has a money problem, and it belongs to the side that claims to hate money in politics.
A newly released campaign finance report shows the "No on 2" campaign — the committee fighting to keep ranked-choice voting in the Last Frontier — has pulled in millions of dollars from out-of-state, left-wing dark-money organizations to defeat Ballot Measure 2 in the 2026 midterms, according to RedState, which first reported on the filing. That is the same side now attacking Measure 2 for its campaign finance provisions, which the anti-repeal camp has publicly framed as a giveaway to dark money.
Measure 2 does two things. It would repeal Alaska's ranked-choice voting system, approved by voters in 2020. It would also eliminate "campaign finance provisions that require persons and entities that contribute more than $2,000 that were themselves derived from donations, contributions, dues, or gifts to disclose the true sources (as defined in law) of the political contributions," according to Ballotpedia's summary of the initiative cited by RedState.
That second piece is the opening the anti-repeal side wanted. The "No on 2" messaging hammers the measure as pro-dark-money. The finance report, however, shows the anti-repeal campaign itself bankrolled by out-of-state dark-money organizations, per RedState. The hypocrisy is not subtle: the people lecturing Alaskans about disclosure are the ones taking the checks from Outside.
This is not a new pattern in Alaska. RedState notes that the original 2020 campaign to put ranked-choice voting on the ballot and pass it was heavily funded by monied interests from Outside. When Alaskans tried to repeal RCV in 2024, they missed by roughly 700 votes — while being outspent by those same out-of-state dark-money interests. Now, in 2026, they are back at it.
There has been no public polling released on Measure 2, according to RedState. But the on-the-ground evidence the outlet describes points to a shift: writing from Alaska, RedState's author says they are seeing about ten pro-repeal yard signs and bumper stickers for every one anti-repeal sign or sticker, based on their own driving and conversations around the state.
There is also the 2024 data point. RedState notes that more than half of Alaska voters that year "bullet voted" — meaning they ranked only one candidate rather than listing a full ranking. That is not how ranked-choice voting is supposed to be used, and it is one more sign that Alaskans never fully bought into the system imposed on them six years ago.
Ranked-choice voting's defenders sell it as a reform that empowers voters. In practice, as Alaska has shown, it produces confusing tabulations, delayed results, and outcomes that a plurality of voters did not choose on the first count. It was sold to Alaska by outside money in 2020, and it is being defended in 2026 by outside money. The pattern is the same, and the money is coming from the same kinds of places.
What is different this time is Measure 2's structure. By combining the RCV repeal with the campaign finance disclosure rollback, the initiative gives the anti-repeal side a talking point they are running hard. Whether Alaska voters buy it is the open question. No one has polled the race, per RedState, so the yard-sign gap is anecdotal, not a forecast.
What is not anecdotal is the filing. Millions of dollars from out-of-state left-wing dark-money groups, in a state where the population is smaller than most American cities, is a heavy thumb on the scale. Alaska voters will decide in November whether to weigh that for themselves.
Our Take
Every cycle, the Left tells you dark money is the poison killing American elections — right up until the dark money is cutting checks for their side.
Alaskans should see this for exactly what it is. Outside operatives flew into the Last Frontier in 2020, sold a complicated voting scheme to a state that never asked for it, and now they are flooding the airwaves with millions of dollars to make sure it stays. They lost by 700 votes in 2024, and instead of taking the hint, they went back to their donors. The "dark money" complaint was never a principle. It was a weapon to use against the repeal effort, and the finance report just showed the blade is pointed the wrong way.
The yard-sign gap is real, the bullet-voting numbers from 2024 are real, and the out-of-state cash is real. Alaskans have the receipts now. The only question left is whether they let the Outside buy their election one more time.
Patriots in the Great Land: read the filing, check the donors, and vote YES on Measure 2.
