Greetings all. Back with another discussion with one of our “Audacious Expansion Fund” state party chairs - this one with Eric Croft of Alaska.
Chair Croft has reasons to be optimistic this year. Their Senate candidate, Mary Peltola, is leading in polls, is raising lots of money, and is a terrific candidate, one of our very best this cycle. I hope everyone reading this takes the time to watch or listen to this spirited conversation with a state Chair trying to do hard things this November. Among the things we touch on:
The Chair thanks the Hopium community for our $100,000+ investment in the Alaska Democratic Party, and walks through what this money has allowed them to do (yes, thank you to everyone who has contributed!!!)
The Chair talks about our how investment, and the far more aggressive support from Ken Martin’s DNC they are receiving, is allowing them to be far more ambitious, and “expand the map” inside Alaska. For just as targeting Alaska is expanding our national map to include a state we have struggled to compete in, Chair Croft and Alaska Dems are expanding the map inside Alaska by supporting reach candidates and targeting voters outside their traditional, narrow targets.
Here are two excerpts from our discussion:
Simon:
You’re in a big state, and people can be hard to reach. So talk a little bit about what you’ve been doing as Chair programmatically.Eric:
We had big dreams, and you coming in with this, now coming up to 100,000 bucks… allowed me to do a couple of things. Through our fabulous Executive Director Jenny Marie-Stryker, we were able to hire an organizing director in February that we had scheduled for summer. One of the strategic things we did as well, knowing that we had this financial backing coming, and it’s been fabulous, we’re going to tough places and going to fight in them… we were just up in the Mat-Su Valley north of Anchorage, where it’s really all Republicans and it’s really very tough.
And…..
I had to stand before my crew and say, we’ve got about a million-dollar budget. I want to spend $80,000 on races we’re not going to win. And here’s why… I had to allocate money, precious money, and some people [asked] the obvious question… Why aren’t you spending that $80,000 on races that we probably might like? On our swings? Because if we always concentrate on the swings, the Pennsylvanias, right, we’re never expanding the map. I want to use this to go after their territory. We’re still going to have support for those key districts. We’re still putting a lot of effort there. And we’re still defending our people where they need it. But we’re going to fight where we haven’t fought before.
And Ken [Martin] said that - it’s both brave and the right thing to do.
All this gets to the core of what the new team of Ken Martin and Jane Kleeb have sought to do at the DNC and in the state parties - invest everywhere, so we can compete everywhere. Here’s more on the vision driving the DNC’s unprecedented investments in state parties:
Organize Everywhere, Win Anywhere - August, 2025
Vision for the DNC’s New Organizing Program: Organize Early, Organize Always, Organize Everywhere, and Win Anywhere - April, 2025
Here’s more on why Hopium has followed the DNC’s lead this cycle and worked to expand the map and reach voters who have not heard from us in years:
As this polling tells us these investments we’ve made in expanding the map could end up helping flip the Senate this November, something few thought was possible even a few months ago. It’s exciting stuff all.
If you want to help us win in Alaska this November you can do so by donating to our Expansion Fund, which splits the contribution five ways among the Alaska, Florida, Iowa, Maine, and Texas Democratic Parties; by donating directly to the state party; or by giving to Mary Peltola (watch our recent interview with Peltola here).
Enjoy this uplifting interview with one of our hardest-working, gritty battleground state chairs, and keep working hard all. We have a country to save, and elections to win, together! - Simon
Bio - Eric Croft, Chair of the Alaska Democratic Party
Eric Croft is a lifelong Alaskan with a commitment to progressive politics.
He served in the Alaska House of Representatives (1997-2007), the Anchorage School Board (2013-2016), and the Anchorage Municipal Assembly (2016-2019). In the state legislature, Eric drafted and passed by initiative two statewide election reform efforts in 2004/2006, and most recently he formed the coalition to pass Anchorage’s first dedicated funding for Pre-K and child care.
When not consumed by politics, Eric has intermittently held legal jobs, as an Anchorage prosecutor, starting a company to help people pass the Alaska Bar Exam, as a workers’ compensation attorney helping injured workers, and teaching law at UAA. Eric is married to the lovely and talented Joanna and is the proud father of Shannon and Burke. He enjoys boating, fishing, hunting, and riding his motorcycle in the summer.
Eric is proud to serve as the Chair of the Alaska Democratic Party.
