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Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, and former Rep. Mary Peltola traded blows Thursday night in the final debate of a Senate race that has surprised some political observers with how close it has become.
The latest Fox News Power Rankings rate Alaska’s Senate race as a "toss-up," meaning neither party has an edge. Alaska has historically favored the GOP, though the party’s margin of victory has narrowed in recent cycles.
Sullivan and Peltola clashed over energy costs, the Iran war, Social Security reform, health care policy, military spending, allegations of misconduct and fish, among other topics, but a handful of exchanges stood out from the rest.
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Throughout the debate, Peltola attacked Sullivan for being a D.C. insider and using his position to enrich himself and his allies. Sullivan attempted to rebut her claims by pointing to Peltola’s extensive lobbying career after her time in office, accusing her of cashing in by selling influence.
"My opponent keeps talking about corporate greed again; she defines the rigged system in DC," Sullivan said. "There's nothing more rigged than a member of Congress getting fired and then immediately walking through the revolving door to cash in. She made almost half a million last year as a DC lobbyist selling her knowledge of DC. She did it when she left the state legislature; she set up a lobbying firm."
"You're walking through the revolving door so much, you must be getting dizzy up here," he quipped.
Peltola responded by saying that her lobbying work was done to benefit Alaskans and highlighting how Sullivan has gotten wealthier since coming to Washington.
"Dan's been in DC for 12 years and gotten richer every single one of those years. That's the corruption that Alaskans are really sick of, and that's the corruption that I'll fight against. Dan went to DC with $3 million. He now has $8 million," she said. "Dan's doing just fine watching out for himself."
After Peltola responded to a question about how she would work to improve affordability for Alaskans if elected to the Senate while appearing to read from a piece of paper, Sullivan questioned whether she had received a copy of the debate questions in advance.
"Here's a moderator question, we weren't supposed to get these questions beforehand, were we?" Sullivan asked.
"No sir," one moderator responded.
"Neither one of you got questions beforehand," the other moderator said. "Absolutely not."
"I'm just watching my opponent read questions that seem to be answered," the senator said.
After Sullivan brought up a New York Times report airing complaints from anonymous staffers alleging that Peltola physically and verbally mistreated her employees, the Democrat lashed out at the incumbent senator, prompting moderators to interject.
"Look, my opponent has been telling lies throughout this entire campaign, and it's revealed character challenges. But it's not just the lies. Take a look at how she treats Alaskans when the cameras are off," Sullivan said. "Look at that New York Times story. She treats young Alaskans horribly. 25 staffers quit on Mary Pelton because she abused them physically and emotionally, and then she slanders every other group — African Americans, special needs individuals. It is a character flaw of my opponent."
Sullivan’s statement prompted Peltola to attempt to cut him off, calling the reports "gossip" and "unfounded."
"Let's have some decorum here," a moderator said, after Peltola began to interrupt Sullivan, who was speaking past his allotted time.
Though Peltola’s campaign disputed several of the allegations, including claims that she used slurs and shoved a young staffer, her spokesman said some of her behavior came during a period of extreme grief after the deaths of her mother and husband in 2023.
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Another heated moment came after Sullivan accused Peltola of blocking pay for members of the armed services over access to transgender medical procedures.
"My opponent, did vote against our military, did vote against pay raise for our troops because she wanted more transgender surgeries for our troops. I mean, that is an outrage," the senator said.
"I need to rebut that, that is absurd," Peltola interjected.
"Yeah. I think that Alaskans have had it up to here with the lying and the dishonesty. Dan, you should be ashamed of yourself for propagating these lies," the Democrat responded. "The first time I voted on the NDAA, there was trick language in there that would have prohibited our soldiers from getting health care that they needed if they were not stationed in a state that didn't allow for women's reproductive health care. I'm not doing that to our soldiers. But three other times I voted hard yes, in support of our troops."
Near the end of the debate, each candidate was asked to say one nice thing about their opponent.
"Well, my wife invited Mary to attend my Marine Corps retirement ceremony after 30 years, and they honored me, but they honored my wife and daughters more than anybody at my retirement ceremony … and Mary Peltola attended, so I thank her for that," Sullivan said.
"Yeah, that was a lovely, lovely service. And I was so proud to be there. And one, you know, three wonderful attributes of Dan and Julie are their lovely daughters. So that's three lovely things I can say about Dan and Julie," said Peltola.
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