By SUZANNE DOWNING
Sept. 9, 2026 – The Alaska Democratic Party has acknowledged that it deliberately recruited candidates to compete in some of Alaska’s most conservative legislative districts, including places where Republicans faced no opposition two years ago.
The initiative is called “Team Togo,” an apparent reference to the legendary Alaska sled dog that led musher Leonhard Seppala’s team through the longest and most dangerous portion of the 1925 serum run to Nome.
Togo did the hard work but never received the immediate fame that went to Balto, whose team completed the final leg.
For Democrats recruiting political underdogs to run difficult races in deeply Republican territory, the symbolism seems intentional: Send a team into hostile terrain, cover the hard miles and help carry the party toward its destination.
Team Togo, revealed in a recent statement from the party, is now getting a substantial infusion of campaign money from former congressional candidate Rev. Matt Schultz. The party announced over the weekend that Schultz’s campaign donated $200,000 to help Democrats defend their legislative seats, target additional districts and build party infrastructure.
The party says nine Democrats filed for office through Team Togo, including candidates in six districts where Republicans ran unopposed in 2024. Seven of the nine candidates advanced from the August primary and are competing for eight legislative seats in November, according to the party’s announcement. They will try to peel off votes from conservatives in those districts.
Although Democrats describe the effort as providing conservative communities with a choice, it also offers the party a broader strategic advantage: Republican candidates in otherwise safe districts must spend time and money defending their own seats instead of helping Republicans in closer races.
That resource-diversion strategy is not spelled out in the party’s announcement, but its purpose is difficult to miss, and is a usual partisan strategy.
“Republicans should not expect easy races this year,” the release says, adding that the Schultz contribution will allow Democrats to “press the advantage” and give candidates in historically underfunded races the resources to reach voters and organize.
The strategy means Republicans who might otherwise “waltz into office,” as Democrats put it, will face opponents requiring campaign mail, advertising, fundraising and voter outreach. Even if Team Togo candidates do not win those deeply conservative districts, their presence can keep Republican legislators, donors and local party organizations occupied at home.
In that sense, Team Togo’s candidates do not necessarily have to finish the race in first place to serve the larger party strategy. They simply have to keep Republicans running.
House District 23 presents an unusual variation on the operation. Ruby Jones, identified with the Team Togo effort, is running under the Republican label in the heavily conservative Eagle River-area district.
Jones’s appearance as a Republican gives the Democratic initiative a candidate inside the Republican column rather than one openly identified on the ballot as a Democrat. Critics have begun to dub her “Decoy Jones,” a reference to the Decoy Dan candidate who is running in the US Senate race against Sen. Dan Sullivan. Decoy Jones’ Republican affiliation happened at the same time she filed for office to run against Rep. Jamie Allard of Eagle River. Jones has major support from the big unions that often walk the neighborhoods and canvas for votes. They’ve also donated mightily to her campaign.
The $200,000 financing Team Togo and other Democratic efforts came from money Schultz accumulated while running for Alaska’s US House seat.
Schultz, a downtown Anchorage pastor who is a hard-left Democrat, suspended his campaign in July after attracting attention for incendiary political writings, including a column comparing Republicans to fascists and referring to President Donald Trump as a rapist.
His departure helped clear the Democratic-aligned lane for Bill Hill, who is running without a Democratic Party designation. Hill advanced from Alaska’s nonpartisan primary along with incumbent Republican Congressman Nick Begich. The party supports him.
Thus, the Alaska Democratic Party ended the primary season without its own formally identified candidate remaining in the principal US House contest. Schultz left the race, Democratic support consolidated around Hill, and $200,000 collected through Schultz’s Democratic campaign was redirected to the state party.
The party presented the transfer as a continuation of Schultz’s political work.
“Although my campaign may have ended, the work we started together carries on,” Schultz said in the party’s announcement.
Alaska Democratic Party Chairman Eric Croft said Schultz’s campaign had been “powered by people” who believed in a better future for Alaska and that the money would now help elect Democrats across the state.
The transfer illustrates how campaign money raised for one contest can remain politically useful after the candidate drops out. Rather than being returned proportionally to contributors, a large portion of Schultz’s remaining money will now finance party-building and legislative campaigns.
The Democrats’ announcement was unusually candid about the scope of Team Togo and its plan to make Republicans defend every mile of territory, keep their candidates from helping one another, and force the GOP to work harder for seats it once took for granted.
