Sullivan and Peltola exchange verbal jabs and accuse each other of lying during ‘debate for the state’
Alaska’s two leading candidates for U.S. Senate disparaged each other and frequently interrupted each other during the “Debate for the State” Thursday night.
Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan and his opponent, former Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola, traded barbs over Alaska’s affordability and energy future and accused each other of lying.
The night was tense before the debate even began, with dozens of Peltola and Sullivan supporters holding up signs for their candidate outside the Alaska Public Media studio.
Matt Faubion
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Alaska Public Media
Loren Baxter held a sign in support of Sullivan. Baxter said he worked in missile defense in Alaska.
“I appreciate his position on this and the military perspective, as well as a lot of the work he’s done in trying to repeal many of the executive orders that were made under the Biden administration,” Baxter said.
Several Peltola supporters declined to be interviewed. Several said campaign staff told them not to speak to reporters.
During the debate, Sullivan repeatedly alluded to a New York Times article featuring former Peltola staffers, saying she subjected them to angry outbursts and derogatory terms about gays and people with disabilities.
Matt Faubion
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Alaska Public Media
Peltola said she strives to maintain respect among her staff.
“I don’t think this election is about my worst day, and I found a lot of these allegations to be outright fabrications or massive exaggerations of the truth,” she said.
Sullivan was asked why he didn’t condemn President Donald Trump for denigrating women and people with disabilities as harshly as he condemned Peltola’s remarks.
“I have denounced the president’s language on these kinds of issues,” Sullivan said.
Pressed for an example, Sullivan said he spoke up when Trump insulted Fox News personality Megyn Kelly in 2015. After the debate, Sullivan added that he also retaliated when Trump insulted the late Sen. John McCain.
Matt Faubion
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Alaska Public Media
On several occasions, Sullivan said Peltola voted against a pay raise for military officials. Peltola insisted that was not true.
“I have two sons who were enlisted-4 and enlisted-5 when they got out,” she said, referring to their military pay. “They were both on food stamps. I was happy to…vote for this pay raise that our military hasn’t had in 10 years.”
Sullivan cited a vote Peltola took against a version of the National Defense Authorization Act because, he said, “she wanted more transgender surgeries for our troops.” Peltola said the bill would have limited women’s reproductive health care and that she voted in favor of two other versions of the NDAA.
Sullivan accused Peltola of lying when he ran campaign ads accusing him of receiving donations from the allies of notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
“I have spent my career defending survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and in this case I voted to release the Epstein files and to protect victims,” Sullivan said. “She ran this commercial non-stop.”
Peltola said she has no control over ads produced by political action committees.
At the start of the debate, Peltola answered several questions by reading from his notes. This prompted Sullivan to ask moderator Lori Townsend if the questions had been provided in advance.
“None of you were given any questions beforehand. Absolutely not,” Townsend said.
The media outlets that hosted the debate – Alaska Public Media, KTOO and Alaska’s News Source – did not allow anyone to see the questions in advance.
Sullivan later told reporters he believed him.
“I don’t blame you guys,” he told the debate hosts. “I’m not. And I really am not.”
Election day is November 3.
You can watch the entire debate below:
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