U.S. currency is seen in a close-up photo. (Getty Images)
With less than a month to go before the 2024 election, some Alaskans are already looking ahead to 2026.
On Thursday, Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom approved a ballot measure that would reimpose financial limits on political candidates and donors. The measure now faces a statewide vote in 2026.
Bruce Botelho, a former Alaska attorney general who is one of three leading sponsors of the ballot measure, said he hopes for faster action. If the Alaska Legislature passes “substantially similar” legislation to the ballot measure, it will be removed from the 2026 vote.
“I think we will make an effort to have the Legislature enact substantially the same language as the initiative, so that it will not have to be on the ballot in 2026,” he said.
It isn’t clear whether that will happen. Gov. Mike Dunleavy has previously said he prefers to have no limits, and lawmakers have declined to advance a substantially similar bill authored by Rep. Calvin Schrage, I-Anchorage and one of the cosponsors of the ballot measure.