The Alaska Story investigation: Soros-linked ‘newspapers’ blanket Alaska and other battleground states with pro-Democrat election messaging

By SUZANNE DOWNING

Aug. 27, 2026 – Alaskans are once again finding an unsolicited printed publication called the Alaska Independent in their mailboxes, part of a rapidly expanding national network of partisan publications designed to resemble ordinary community newspapers.

It’s old school, on newsprint, in tabloid format. The August edition offers the trappings of features written by artificial intelligence: Alaska scenery, a feature about the Alaska Long Trail, a story about artists on St. Paul Island, a crossword puzzle and a recipe for cookie-sheet cake.

Between those softer features, however, is a carefully constructed political message aimed at Alaska voters.

One cover obtained by The Alaska Story features a commercial fishing net filled with fish beneath the headline, “Dan Sullivan nets big bucks from trawlers.”

Inside, readers find a full page reporting that Sullivan received more than $400,000 from people and political action committees connected to the trawling industry.

Across another page is a favorable story about Democrat Mary Peltola’s proposal to expand the federal child tax credit. The accompanying photograph, supplied by Peltola’s campaign, shows the former congresswoman with members of an Alaska family. A pull quote tells readers that the “Senate nominee would expand benefit to $3,600 per child under 6 and $3,000 per child 6-17.”

The framing continues throughout the publication. One article warns that “thousands of Alaskans” are losing health coverage and prominently blames Republican Congressman Nick Begich for voting against an extension of enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies. Another declares that Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s school budget “will shut buildings and lay off more teachers.”

The political stories are interspersed with local material about high fuel prices in Akutan, an Indigenous adaptation of Rudyard Kipling’s “The White Seal,” hiking trails and Alaska recreation. The recipe, crossword and community features help give the publication the appearance of a conventional local newspaper rather than a targeted political product.

The Alaska Independent identifies the American Independent Foundation in Washington, DC as its publisher. It belongs to a national collection of similarly named outlets connected to longtime Democratic political operative David Brock.

New ‘Alaska Independent’ newspaper arriving in Alaska mailboxes linked to national dark-money Democrat network

As of July, the American Independent network listed 10 state publications: the Alaska, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin Independents. Many of those states will feature consequential Senate, House or statewide elections this year. They’ve been targeted by the Democratic National Committee as battlegrounds in the current election cycle.

The scale of the operation may be without precedent in American political publishing. An estimated 3.2 million newspaper-style publications were being mailed each month by the organization as early as 2022, with recipients selected because the network believed they were politically moderate or progressive women, according to reporting compiled by InfluenceWatch. In Montana alone, about 150,000 people reportedly received editions during the 2024 election cycle.

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Now a nearly identical operation in Michigan provides a revealing comparison for Alaska..

According to the Free Beacon, The Michigan Independent recently mailed voters a publication combining Democratic political messaging with a recipe for “Blueberry Streusel Coffee Cake.” One of its articles described Democratic US Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed as a “veteran, doctor, and former health official.”

El-Sayed has never served in the military.

The Michigan Independent’s president, Joe Conason, acknowledged the error after it was reported by the Washington Free Beacon. Conason said the word “veteran” was supposed to modify “doctor and public health official,” rather than identify El-Sayed as a military veteran.

And yet, that explanation raised another problem. Although El-Sayed attended medical school and has called himself a physician, Politico reported in May that he has never held a license to practice medicine.

Asked by the Free Beacon whether it was accurate to call El-Sayed a veteran doctor, Conason replied that El-Sayed had been a physician for a long time. When reminded that he had never been licensed as a physician, Conason answered, “Whether he’s a physician or not, he’s a doctor.”

El-Sayed’s own campaign rebuked the publication.

“Abdul has never claimed to be a veteran, he never would out of his respect for those who served, and any outlet or group writing about our campaign should do their homework and not allow this to happen again,” campaign spokeswoman Roxie Richner told the Free Beacon.

The network has used the same tactics before. During Virginia’s 2021 gubernatorial campaign, an edition mailed to voters falsely claimed Republican Glenn Youngkin had called federal Covid relief “unnecessary.” In 2022, state affiliates in Pennsylvania and Arizona purchased Facebook advertisements promoting articles portraying Republican candidates as out of touch on abortion.

The Michigan Independent began running another Facebook advertisement on Aug. 14 targeting Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers, alleging that Rogers and President Donald Trump supported delaying a bridge project to “bully Canada.”

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The money trail leads into some of the largest progressive funding networks in the country.

Open Society Foundations’ own grant database shows that the Foundation to Promote Open Society, a George Soros organization, awarded the American Independent Foundation $500,000 in 2022. The American Independent Foundation also received $3.3 million from the Hopewell Fund in 2024, according to tax records cited by InfluenceWatch. Hopewell was part of the network formerly managed by Arabella Advisors and now operating under Sunflower Services. It’s connected to the Soros nonprofit influence universe.

American Independent Foundation’s 2024 tax filing reportedly shows an operation moving tens of millions of dollars among related organizations, including an $11.9 million grant to its affiliated social-welfare group, American Independent Media.

In Alaska, the August publication arrives as Sullivan faces Peltola in one of the country’s most closely watched Senate campaigns. Its editorial formula is unmistakable and just like the one used in Michigan: portray Alaska families as suffering, assign responsibility to Republicans and present Peltola’s policies as the solution. All while surrounding the political message with hiking, culture, recipes and puzzles.

There is one more curious Alaska connection. This week, an individual we identified as a researcher for Open Society Foundations attempted to subscribe to The Alaska Story newsletter using an opensociety.org email address. The subscription has been deleted. That episode demonstrates that the Soros network is monitoring the Alaska news and blog landscape as this Soros-funded “newspaper” network expands its Alaska operation prior to the November elections.

From Anchorage to Detroit, the formula is the same local photographs on the cover, recipes and puzzles inside, and Democratic campaign messaging woven through the pages in a product mailed to specific voters.

Earlier coverage from The Alaska Story is here: New ‘Alaska Independent’ newspaper arriving in Alaska mailboxes linked to national dark-money Democrat network

The Alaska Story is supported by hundreds of Alaskans through their generous contributions. It is entirely independent.

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