Another little-known candidate in the Alaska Senate race points toward secretive effort to hurt Republicans

As a Justice Department investigation scrutinizes whether Democrats recruited a Senate candidate to confuse Alaska voters, a big-money effort propping up a different fringe name on the ballot could also hurt Republicans in that race – and in another pivotal contest in Ohio.

Newly created political action committees linked to a Wisconsin operative with a history of election-law violations are spending millions to attack Republican incumbents in Alaska and Ohio from the right and to promote longshot conservative challengers, a CNN investigation found.

Both races could help determine control of the Senate.

Who is financing the spending in the final days before the elections remains unclear. But the groups all share a common link: Thomas Datwyler, a Wisconsin political consultant who has faced a litany of campaign finance complaints around the country.

The groups’ spending could draw new federal scrutiny if Democrat Mary Peltola succeeds in unseating Republican Sen. Daniel S. Sullivan.

President Donald Trump and other top Republicans have accused Peltola’s campaign of recruiting Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., a rural schoolteacher, onto the ballot to siphon votes from the incumbent, after the New York Times quoted Peltola’s former campaign manager airing new allegations about the effort this week. Peltola has denied knowledge of the plan.

Another little-known conservative in the race, a drywall contractor named Gerald “Jerry” Heikes, told the Times he was also recruited to run by a man who promised to “make things happen for you.” Heikes, who didn’t respond to messages from CNN, said he didn’t remember the man’s name.

Two PACs that have listed Datwyler as their treasurer have now spent more than $3.75 million attacking Sen. Sullivan and supporting Heikes since mid-October.

They follow the same playbook of a different Datwyler-affiliated PAC that spent more than $2 million in the Alaska Senate primary in August – and which later revealed it was funded in part by a liberal dark-money group.

In Ohio, meanwhile, yet another Datwyler-linked PAC has dropped more than $3.8 million to attack GOP Sen. Jon Husted and support William Redpath, a longshot libertarian candidate on the ballot.

Redpath said he’d never met Datwyler, didn’t know the source of the money supporting his candidacy, and in fact had never seen the PAC’s ads endorsing his run until contacted by CNN.

Bill Redpath for US Senate

Election experts say there’s a long and legal tradition of political groups trying to siphon votes away from opponents by quietly supporting fringe candidates. But they also warn that the tactics undermine faith in elections and show the outsized influence of hard-to-track money flowing through the nation’s political system.

“This type of gamesmanship can erode public confidence in the electoral process,” said Michael Beckel, the director of money-in-politics reform at Issue One, a bipartisan advocacy group. “When voters discover after an election that an organization from the opposing political camp secretly financed advertising supporting a candidate, they may reasonably question what else they don’t know.”

But free speech advocates say PACs should be allowed to support candidates for any reason and that voters can decide how to act.

“I don’t really see a solution,” said David Keating, president of the Institute for Free Speech. “It’s part of democracy. It’s a messy process. Free speech is messy, but it’s better than the alternatives.”

Datwyler did not respond to requests for comment. A woman who answered the door at his Wisconsin home on Thursday said he “wouldn’t want to talk” about his activities in Senate races. On Friday, one of the PACs filed an updated registration with the Federal Election Commission naming a new treasurer.

In a video posted to his company’s Instagram account last year, Datwyler responded to criticism of his political work.

“The work is so much more important than the noise and the press that attack me with meaningless, meritless articles,” he said. “It motivates me more because I know that they wouldn’t be attacking me or my clients if we weren’t an actual threat to them and their power.”

The PACs pouring millions into backing longshot candidates this month are taking advantage of a loophole in federal campaign finance law: Because they didn’t start spending until the final two weeks of the campaign, they won’t have to disclose their donors until after Election Day.

This isn’t the first time groups tied to the same political strategist have used that loophole to meddle in the high-profile Alaska race.

Kerry Tasker/Reuters

In the Alaska Senate primary in August, a PAC that listed Datwyler as treasurer, Right for Alaska, spent more than $2.3 million in the days before the vote to attack Sen. Dan Sullivan and boost Heikes and Earl Southworth, another longshot candidate running as a member of the “Alaskan Party.”

The group started spending late enough that it didn’t have to disclose its donors until after the primary, according to FEC filings. When it finally filed records, they revealed that almost all of its funding came from the Sixteen Thirty Fund, a liberal dark money group that has been a major backer of PACs supporting Democratic candidates, and another shadowy group called Liberty Force Action Fund.

Liberty Force Action Fund, which is listed in FEC records with only a Virginia post office box as an address, has not been reported as a donor in any other federal races, and has not yet filed any publicly available paperwork as a non-profit or political group.

Republican groups also got in on the effort to prop up minor candidates in the primaries. A Republican super PAC funded a PAC that spent more than $800,000 promoting a Green Party candidate and another minor Democrat in the Alaska Senate race and opposing Peltola.

Heikes, who does not appear to have actively campaigned and has not reported spending any money, came in fifth in the primary and advanced to the general election after another longshot Democratic candidate, David Leslie, dropped out. Meanwhile, Right for Alaska shut down after the primary.

Now, in the days before the general election, two new groups registered by Datwyler, Alaska Values PAC and Red Alaska PAC, are following the same playbook. Alaska Values, which was registered last month, has spent at least $3.75 million on the race, according to FEC records filed on Thursday. Red Alaska, which was registered earlier this month , has spent an additional $10,000, according to its latest filing . Neither PAC has reported any of their donors.

In YouTube ads purchased by Alaska Values, narrators claim Sullivan had supported transgender issues or excessive federal spending and portray Heikes as the real conservative. The ads urge voters to avoid ranking Sullivan under Alaska’s unusual ranked-choice voting system.

“Rank one name, leave the rest blank: Only rank Heikes,” a narrator declares in one ad .

Another PAC that lists Datwyler as treasurer, Buckeye Freedom PAC, is following the same playbook in the highly contested Ohio Senate race.

The group, which also won’t have to disclose any of its donors until after the election, has reported spending more than $3.8 million on ads, texting and direct mail to attack Husted and support Redpath.

In one of the PAC’s ads , a gun-toting narrator accuses Husted of “pushing background checks and red flag laws,” while touting Redpath as “a real Second Amendment guy.”

Redpath, who has previously run for office in Virginia and Illinois, told CNN he had never heard of Datwyler and knew nothing about the group’s spending.

“I’ve never spoken with the man,” Redpath said. “I don’t know who these people are. They want to promote my candidacy, and that’s fine. If people want to promote my candidacy, that’s their right to do so.”

A Datwyler-linked group has also supported a mainstream Republican nominee in at least one other key Senate race. Another PAC that he’s the treasurer of, Sportsmans Alliance of Maine Action Fund, reported spending more than $62,000 to support GOP Sen. Susan Collins this week.

In an interview with a political website posted last year , Datwyler claimed that he had “served as treasurer for more conservative committees than any other professional in the US” in the previous election cycle. He has served as the treasurer of more than 180 PACs that were registered since the beginning of 2025, according to FEC records.

He has primarily been associated with Republican campaigns and groups, the records show, including several high-profile campaigns. In 2023, committees aligned with then-New York Rep. George Santos listed Datwyler as treasurer, but a lawyer for Datwyler told CNN that had been done without his authorization.

As a treasurer, Datwyler’s primary job is signing paperwork and ensuring compliance with campaign finance law, not directing operations. Datwyler and groups listing him as treasurer have faced repeated complaints and in some cases had to pay fines over campaign finance violations.

In 2024, the campaign of then-Indiana Sen. Mike Braun, which listed Datwyler as treasurer, paid a $159,000 penalty to the FEC over failing to correctly disclose loans totaling more than $11 million. The committee said that a different former treasurer was responsible for the errors.

The FEC also issued smaller fines to two other 2022 campaigns Datwyler was treasurer for, after finding former Rep. Rodney Davis’s campaign failed to timely refund excess contributions and finding former GOP Congressional candidate Joe Kent’s campaign had failed to file required 48-hour contribution notices.

State attorneys general in Mississippi and Tennessee both opened investigations into Datwyler and political groups he served as treasurer for in recent years over allegations of campaign finance violations, according to local media reports. Neither case led to charges.

A complaint from the Campaign Legal Center in May alleged that a committee called ALF PAC, which listed Datwyler as treasurer, misattributed the source of a $250,000 contribution.

Another CLC complaint in May alleged that the campaign of Texas congressional candidate Brandon Herrera, which lists Datwyler as treasurer, used another company “as a shell entity to conceal” vendors being paid, including one with an address linked to Datwyler. And a third complaint filed in 2024 alleged a congressional candidate in Wisconsin used a “straw donor” scheme to transfer $37,500 from his state committee to his federal campaign committee, where Datwyler served as treasurer.

Those FEC complaints remain pending, a CLC spokesperson told CNN.

Supporting longshot candidates is not a new tactic for groups linked to Datwyler. In 2021, a group listing Datwyler as treasurer, Our First Principles Fund, spent more than $60,000 promoting a third-party candidate, Princess Blanding, and opposing another candidate in the competitive governor’s race in Virginia, records show.

Blanding won less than 1% of the vote in that race. Virginia Public Media previously reported on that spending.

CNN’s Rob Kuznia contributed to this report.

司法部正在调查民主党是否招募了一名参议员候选人来迷惑阿拉斯加选民，与此同时，一项旨在支持另一位边缘候选人的巨额资金行动也可能损害共和党在该州以及俄亥俄州另一场关键选举中的利益。

CNN 的一项调查发现，与一名有违反选举法前科的威斯康星州政治人物有关联的新成立的政治行动委员会正在花费数百万美元，从右翼攻击阿拉斯加州和俄亥俄州的共和党现任议员，并支持胜算渺茫的保守派挑战者。

这两场选举的结果都可能决定参议院的控制权。

选举前最后几天的支出究竟由谁出资，目前尚不清楚。但这些团体都有一个共同点：他们都与托马斯·达特维勒有关，这位威斯康星州的政治顾问在全国各地都面临着大量的竞选资金投诉。

如果民主党人玛丽·佩尔托拉成功击败共和党参议员丹尼尔·S·沙利文，这些团体的支出可能会引起联邦政府的新审查。

此前，《纽约时报》援引佩尔托拉前竞选经理的话，称其本周提出了有关佩尔托拉竞选活动的新指控。随后，特朗普总统和其他共和党高层指责佩尔托拉的竞选团队招募乡村教师丹尼尔·J·沙利文参选，意图分流现任议员的选票。佩尔托拉否认知晓此事。

另一位名不见经传的保守派候选人，名叫杰拉尔德·“杰瑞”·海克斯的石膏板承包商告诉《泰晤士报》，他也是一位被招募参选的人，对方承诺会“为你办成事”。海克斯没有回复CNN的置评请求，他说他不记得那人的名字了。

自 10 月中旬以来，两个将 Datwyler 列为财务主管的政治行动委员会 (PAC) 已花费超过 375 万美元攻击参议员 Sullivan 并支持 Heikes。

他们效仿了另一个与 Datwyler 有关联的政治行动委员会的做法，该委员会在 8 月份的阿拉斯加州参议院初选中花费了超过 200 万美元——后来披露，其部分资金来自一个自由派的“黑钱”组织。

与此同时，在俄亥俄州，另一个与达特维勒有关联的政治行动委员会投入了超过 380 万美元，攻击共和党参议员乔恩·赫斯特德，并支持威廉·雷德帕斯，这位自由意志主义候选人在选票上胜算渺茫。

雷德帕斯表示，他从未见过达特怀勒，也不知道支持他竞选的资金来源，事实上，直到 CNN 联系他之前，他从未见过该政治行动委员会支持他竞选的广告。

比尔·雷德帕斯竞选美国参议员

选举专家表示，政治团体通过暗中支持边缘候选人来分散对手选票的做法由来已久，而且这种做法合法。但他们也警告说，这些策略会削弱人们对选举的信任，并暴露出难以追踪的资金在国家政治体系中的巨大影响力。

“这种政治投机行为会削弱公众对选举过程的信心，”两党倡导组织“第一议题”（Issue One）的政治献金改革主任迈克尔·贝克尔表示，“如果选民在选举后发现，来自对立政治阵营的某个组织秘密资助了支持某位候选人的广告，他们很可能会质疑自己还不知道的其他事情。”

但言论自由倡导者表示，政治行动委员会应该被允许出于任何原因支持候选人，选民可以决定如何行动。

“我真的看不到解决办法，”言论自由研究所主席大卫·基廷说。“这是民主的一部分。这是一个混乱的过程。言论自由虽然混乱，但总比其他选择要好。”

达特维勒未回应置评请求。周四，一位应门的女士在他位于威斯康星州的家中表示，他“不想谈论”他在参议院竞选中的活动。周五，其中一个政治行动委员会向联邦选举委员会提交了更新后的注册文件，任命了一位新的财务主管。

去年，达特维勒在其公司 Instagram 账号上发布了一段视频，回应了外界对其政治工作的批评。

“工作远比那些毫无意义、毫无价值的文章和媒体攻击重要得多，”他说。“这反而激励着我，因为我知道，如果我们没有对他们及其权力构成真正的威胁，他们就不会攻击我和我的客户。”

本月，一些政治行动委员会（PAC）投入数百万美元支持胜算渺茫的候选人，他们利用了联邦竞选财务法的一个漏洞：由于他们直到竞选的最后两周才开始支出，因此他们不必在选举日之前披露捐助者信息。

这并非与同一位政治策略家有关联的团体第一次利用这一漏洞干预备受瞩目的阿拉斯加州选举。

凯瑞·塔斯克/路透社

在 8 月份的阿拉斯加州参议院初选中，一个名为“阿拉斯加正义”（Right for Alaska）的政治行动委员会（财务主管为 Datwyler）在投票前的几天里花费了超过 230 万美元，攻击参议员 Dan Sullivan，并支持 Heikes 和 Earl Southworth，后者是另一位以“阿拉斯加党”成员身份参选的冷门候选人。

根据联邦选举委员会（FEC）的文件显示，该组织开始支出的时间较晚，因此直到初选之后才需要披露其捐助者。最终提交的记录显示，其几乎所有资金都来自“十六三十基金”（Sixteen Thirty Fund），这是一个自由派的“黑钱”组织，一直是支持民主党候选人的政治行动委员会（PAC）的主要资助者；此外，该组织还来自另一个名为“自由力量行动基金”（Liberty Force Action Fund）的神秘组织。

自由力量行动基金在联邦选举委员会的记录中仅显示一个弗吉尼亚州的邮政信箱地址，尚未被报道为任何其他联邦选举的捐助者，也尚未作为非营利组织或政治团体提交任何公开文件。

共和党团体也参与了支持初选中小候选人的行动。一个共和党超级政治行动委员会资助了一个政治行动委员会，该委员会花费超过80万美元，用于支持一位绿党候选人和另一位在阿拉斯加州参议院竞选中名列前茅的民主党候选人，并反对佩尔托拉。

海克斯似乎并未积极开展竞选活动，也没有报告任何竞选支出。他在初选中排名第五，另一位民主党候选人戴维·莱斯利退出后，他才得以晋级大选。与此同时，“阿拉斯加权利”组织在初选后解散。

在大选前夕，由达特怀勒注册的两个新团体——阿拉斯加价值观政治行动委员会（Alaska Values PAC）和红色阿拉斯加政治行动委员会（Red Alaska PAC）——正效仿同样的策略。根据联邦选举委员会（FEC）周四提交的记录，上个月注册的阿拉斯加价值观政治行动委员会已在竞选中花费了至少375万美元。本月初注册的红色阿拉斯加政治行动委员会根据其最新提交的文件显示，已额外花费了1万美元。这两个政治行动委员会均未披露任何捐款人信息。

在阿拉斯加价值观组织购买的YouTube广告中，旁白声称苏利文曾支持跨性别议题或过度联邦支出，并将海克斯描绘成真正的保守派。这些广告敦促选民在阿拉斯加特殊的排序复选制投票系统中避免将苏利文列入候选名单。

“请填写一个名字，其余留空：只填写海克斯，”一位旁白在一则广告中说道。

另一个将 Datwyler 列为财务主管的政治行动委员会“Buckeye Freedom PAC”也在竞争激烈的俄亥俄州参议员竞选中采取了同样的策略。

该组织在选举结束后才需要披露其捐助者信息，据报道，他们已花费超过 380 万美元用于广告、短信和直邮，以攻击赫斯特德并支持雷德帕斯。

在政治行动委员会的一则广告中，一名持枪的旁白指责赫斯特“推动背景调查和红旗法”，同时吹捧雷德帕斯是“真正的第二修正案拥护者”。

曾竞选过弗吉尼亚州和伊利诺伊州公职的雷德帕斯告诉 CNN，他从未听说过达特怀勒，也对该组织的支出一无所知。

雷德帕斯说：“我从没跟这个人说过话。我不知道这些人是谁。他们想支持我的竞选，这没问题。如果有人想支持我的竞选，那是他们的权利。”

与达特维勒有关联的一个团体也至少在另一场重要的参议院选举中支持了一位主流共和党候选人。他担任财务主管的另一个政治行动委员会——缅因州体育联盟行动基金——本周报告称，该基金花费了超过6.2万美元支持共和党参议员苏珊·柯林斯。

在去年发表于一家政治网站的采访中，达特维勒声称，在上一个选举周期中，他“担任过比美国任何其他专业人士都多的保守派委员会的财务主管”。根据联邦选举委员会的记录，自2025年初以来，他已担任过180多个政治行动委员会（PAC）的财务主管。

记录显示，他主要与共和党的竞选活动和团体有关联，其中包括几场备受瞩目的竞选活动。2023年，与时任纽约州众议员乔治·桑托斯关系密切的委员会将达特怀勒列为财务主管，但达特怀勒的律师告诉CNN，此事未经他授权。

作为财务主管，达特维勒的主要职责是签署文件并确保遵守竞选财务法，而不是指导竞选活动。达特维勒及其担任财务主管的团体曾多次遭到投诉，在某些情况下还因违反竞选财务法而被罚款。

2024年，时任印第安纳州参议员迈克·布劳恩的竞选团队（当时财务主管是达特怀勒）因未正确披露总额超过1100万美元的贷款，向联邦选举委员会支付了15.9万美元的罚款。该委员会表示，造成这些错误的是另一位前任财务主管。

联邦选举委员会还对达特怀勒担任财务主管的另外两个 2022 年竞选活动处以较小的罚款，原因是发现前众议员罗德尼·戴维斯的竞选活动未能及时退还超额捐款，以及发现前共和党国会候选人乔·肯特的竞选活动未能提交所需的 48 小时捐款通知。

据当地媒体报道，密西西比州和田纳西州的州检察长均对达特怀勒及其近年来担任财务主管的政治团体展开调查，指控其违反竞选财务规定。但两起案件均未导致起诉。

竞选法律中心在 5 月份的一份投诉中称，一个名为 ALF PAC 的委员会（该委员会的财务主管是 Datwyler）错误地归因了一笔 25 万美元捐款的来源。

今年5月，CLC的另一份投诉指控，德克萨斯州国会候选人布兰登·埃雷拉（Brandon Herrera）的竞选团队（该团队的财务主管是达特怀勒）利用另一家公司作为“空壳公司”来掩盖向供应商付款的事实，其中包括一家地址与达特怀勒有关联的供应商。2024年提交的第三份投诉则指控，威斯康星州的一位国会候选人利用“傀儡捐款人”计划，将37,500美元从其州竞选委员会转移到其联邦竞选委员会（达特怀勒担任该委员会的财务主管）。

CLC发言人告诉CNN，这些针对联邦选举委员会的投诉仍在审理中。

支持胜算渺茫的候选人并非与达特怀勒有关联的团体的新策略。记录显示，2021年，一个名为“我们的第一原则基金”（Our First Principles Fund）的团体（达特怀勒担任该团体的财务主管）花费超过6万美元，用于支持第三方候选人普林塞斯·布兰丁，并反对弗吉尼亚州竞争激烈的州长竞选中的另一位候选人。

布兰丁在那场选举中得票率不足1%。弗吉尼亚公共媒体此前曾报道过这笔支出。

CNN的罗布·库兹尼亚对本报道亦有贡献。