An Alaskan senator who is begging his donors for gas money has been spending his campaign funds at flashy Washington DC restaurants and dropped $30,000 on a stay at a California hotel where The Bachelorette was filmed, FEC filings revealed.
Last month, Senator Dan Sullivan took to his donors’ emails to beg for $3, $5, and $10 donations so he could fill up his tank to visit isolated parts of the 50th state, among other uses.
But Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings, viewed by the Daily Mail, showed that Sullivan’s campaign is flush with $7 million in cash and has some telling receipts.
Sullivan apparently has a taste for bougie French cuisine, as he has visited Bistro Cacao 21 times between January 2025 and March 2026, billing more than $21,500 on his campaign and True North PAC’s tab for the flashy DC restaurant.
The Washingtonian described the upscale bistro as a place where ‘Capitol Hill power brokers fill the tables,’ making it an excellent spot for Sullivan to advance his campaign.
The 61-year-old also frequents the 116 Club, a private DC establishment that is known to be filled with high-powered lobbyists. He visited 10 times in the same time frame, racking up nearly $12,300 in bills, FEC filings showed.
He also enjoyed Joe’s Stone Crab, where he spent $5,376.11 in one visit, and $2,000 at RPM Italian, which sells a nearly $900 bottle of white sparkling wine and $36 ravioli.
One of the Alaskan’s biggest expenses came from his PAC, Sullivan Victory, which spent a whopping $27,400 at the La Quinta in California, where season 16 of The Bachelorette was filmed.
Last month, Senator Dan Sullivan asked his donors for $3, $5, and $10 donations to fill up his tank to visit isolated parts of Alaska
FEC filings revealed the lavish establishments Sullivan has visited. One of the places he frequented was a DC French restaurant, Bistro Cacao, which he visited 21 times since 2025
Senator Dan Sullivan is pictured with his wife Julie and their three daughters
Clare Crawley was The Bachelorette on season 16 of the show that was filmed at La Quinta in California. Sullivan spent a whopping $27,400 at the resort
He visited the resort in April while the popular music festival, Coachella, was happening just six miles away. It is unclear if the senator or anyone in his orbit attended the festival.
But even if he didn’t, the La Quinta’s 41 pools and 23 tennis courts offered plenty of opportunity for recreation.
He also visited the Kiawah Island Golf Resort in South Carolina, where the True North PAC spend $6,500 on lodging, and $9,500 at the Safari Lodge in Alaska for the candidate.
‘Clearly, this isn’t a senator struggling to connect with working Alaskans – it’s a man who genuinely cannot tell the difference between his campaign account and a black card,’ Senate Majority PAC spokesperson, Lauren French, told the Daily Mail.
‘This lux spending is even more egregious knowing that Alaskans are paying more than $5 a gallon for gas and struggling to afford basic health care because of Sullivan’s vote to cut Medicaid.’
Sullivan has also backed President Donald Trump’s war in Iran, which has been blamed on driving up US gas prices across the country.
Gas prices jumped to an average of $5.20 per gallon in Alaska as of Friday, which is nearly $1 higher than the national average of $4.22, according to AAA.
At the same time last year, gas was $3.65 in The Last Frontier, according to AAA.
His PAC, Sullivan Victory, also spent $27,400 on an event at the La Quinta in California, where The Bachelorette filmed season 16. He visited the weekend Coachella was happening in the area
The 61-year-old also took 10 trips to the 116 Club, a private DC establishment that is known to be filled with high-powered lobbyists
FEC filings showing Sullivan’s spending at La Quinta, Bistro Cacao, and 116 Club
Sullivan’s campaign did not respond to questions regarding his lavish spending when approached by the Daily Mail.
Instead, Nate Adams, the campaign’s spokesman and the vice president of Black Rock Group, pointed his finger on the incumbent’s opponent, Mary Peltola, whom he accused of using her ‘campaign as a personal slush fund to spend more than double the average salary in Alaska on DC restaurants and Lower 48 speaking tours.’
A national Republican operative, who is close to Sullivan’s campaign, claimed to the Daily Mail that Peltola was doing the same thing as Sullivan when it comes to lavish spending outside of Alaska, specifically pointing to the time when Peltola spent $1,000 on a California hotel during the Golden Globes.
‘You can talk numbers, but it’s splitting hairs here,’ the source told the Daily Mail. ‘It’s a total ruse.’
A source close to the Peltola campaign told the Daily Mail: ‘No one from our campaign attended the Golden Globes.’
The Republican source said it was ‘hypocritical’ of Peltola’s camp to take issue with Sullivan’s spending – which includes $141,000 on Black Rock consulting and $48,000 on processing fees for WinRed, a donation platform that also sells his merchandise – as she is also spending money on things ‘little to do with the campaign.’
One of Peltola’s biggest expenses on her Senate campaign, which she launched in January, are the salaries of her staff and herself. She pays herself a bimonthly salary of $2,637, which equates to roughly $68,500 a year.
She also spent $4,700 on DoorDash for staff meals and $2,200 at the National Democratic Club in DC, FEC filings, viewed by the Daily Mail, showed.
Sullivan’s campaign has also accused his Democratic opponent, Mary Peltola (pictured), of orchestrating a second Dan Sullivan to run on the conservative ticket to confuse voters and win her the race. Her campaign denied this to the Daily Mail
Sullivan’s campaign called the other Dan Sullivan (pictured) a ‘sham candidate’
Adams (pictured), the vice president of Black Rock and Sullivan’s campaign manager, told the Daily Mail that Peltola found the other man for the ‘sole purpose of tricking Alaskans and buying a Senate seat’
Additionally, Peltola paid $204,400 on processing fees to ActBlue, a Democratic donation platform, which charges fees to process campaign donations, similarly to WinRed.
The former tribal judge also spent $232,800 on a now-dissolved House reelection campaign between January 2025 and January 2026, FEC filings showed.
Sullivan’s campaign has also accused Peltola of recruiting a ‘sham candidate for the sole purpose of tricking Alaskans and buying a Senate seat,’ Adams said in a statement to the Daily Mail.
The Republican is currently running against another man named Dan Sullivan, who is also on the conservative ticket.
Sullivan has accused Peltola, a former Democratic House representative, of using this method to confuse voters and secure her the win.
‘Our campaign has no involvement with either Sullivan campaign,’ a Peltola campaign spokesperson told the Daily Mail.
The Democrat, who has publicly said she would take on millionaires and billionaires, is also funded by them, the national Republican operative told the Daily Mail.
‘They’re trying to play the same playbook again,’ the source said. ‘They’re being hypocritical.
Sullivan enjoyed Joe’s Stone Crab, where he spent $5,376.11 in one visit
He also spent $2,000 at RPM Italian in DC, which sells a nearly $900 bottle of white sparkling wine and $36 ravioli. A file photo at the grand opening in 2012 of TV personality Bill Rancic and Giuliana Rancic
His PAC, True North, also paid $9,500 at the Safari Lodge in Alaska for the candidate
‘She was making six figures at a lobby firm.’
After losing her reelection campaign, she got a job at lobbying firm Holland & Hart as its senior director of Alaska government affairs, Notus reported.
Peltola’s camp, however, said Sullivan was the one to leave the state’s constituents behind, not her.
‘As an independent voice for Alaska, Mary will stand up to anyone to fix the rigged system in DC and put Alaska first – but Dan Sullivan left Alaska behind a long time ago,’ her campaign told the Daily Mail.
‘While Mary is focused on driving down costs for Alaska families, self-serving Sullivan is living large on his donors’ dime and voting to raise prices at every turn. ‘
Her campaign also told the Daily Mail that she holds many events in the state and is ‘running a robust Alaska-first campaign.’
Sullivan, Sullivan, and Peltola face off in the primary on August 18.
