One of Mary Peltola’s greatest strengths in the race for US Senate is her broad bipartisan appeal, and she’s not about to let herself get painted into a partisan corner.
The Democrat made a splash over the weekend when her campaign rejected 2024 Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris’ endorsement, telling her and every other Lower 48 Democrat to stay out of the pivotal race and leave it to Alaskans.
The rejection came after Harris sent out a fundraising email last week, urging supporters to “stand behind Mary” in her race against Republican US Sen. Dan Sullivan. “If there’s anyone who can flip Alaska and secure the Senate majority for Democrats — it’s Mary,” the email continued.
Predictably, Sullivan and other Republican groups seized upon the email, using it to try to link Peltola to the national Democratic Party, claiming that she worked “hand in hand with Kamala Harris to put Alaska last.”
The Peltola campaign’s response was particularly pointed.
“Mary isn’t seeking endorsements from anyone from the Lower 48 — her focus is and always will be Alaska,” her campaign said in a statement over the weekend to The New York Times.
And while both Harris and Peltola lost their respective races in Alaska in the 2024 election, Peltola overperformed Harris by about 10 points, meaning there’s a not insignificant number of Trump/Peltola voters in the state.
That broad appeal is part of what has put Alaska’s US Senate race in the national spotlight as a competitive race that could determine control of the narrowly divided US Senate.
The race has already attracted significant national attention and spending, including a concerted effort by both conservative and progressive groups to boost fringe candidates who could potentially siphon away a few thousand votes in the general election.
Voters head to the primary polls on Tuesday, where candidates compete in an open primary, with the top four finishers advancing to the Nov. 3 general election.
Both Peltola and Sullivan are certain to advance.
Matt Acuña Buxton is a long-time political reporter who has written for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and The Midnight Sun political blog. He also authors the daily politics newsletter, The Alaska Memo, and can frequently be found live-tweeting public meetings on Bluesky.
