A Big Year for the Last Frontier: Mary Peltola, Voting Records and Ranked-Choice

On Monday, Alaska Congresswoman Mary Peltola (D-AK) made her annual speech to the Alaska State Legislature.

In the interest of fairness, here is the full (approx. one hour) speech.

Also on Monday, I received an email from the Western Press Secretary of the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) with their official reply.

“Pretty words and hot air can’t paper over Mary Peltola’s year of selling out Alaska. By electing a Republican this fall, Alaskans will ensure that this time next year, they once again can count on a strong fighter in D.C. building Alaska’s future instead of Peltola the Biden enabler rubber-stamping the radical Left’s war on Alaska.” – NRCC Spokesperson Ben Petersen
Background:
In the last year, Peltola repeatedly voted against Alaska priorities, including voting against a military pay raise and veterans funding, voting against law and order and voting against infrastructure funding.
Peltola was one of the first Democrats to endorse Joe Biden and recently defended Biden’s failing mind despite the Biden administration’s more than 50 executive actions targeting Alaska.

Among other things, Mary Peltola has sung the praises of President Joe Biden's mental acuity, which is a head-scratcher given the President's recent history.

Extreme House Democrat Mary Peltola (AK-AL):

"Biden’s mental acuity is very, very on. He’s one of the smartest, sharpest people I’ve met in D.C."https://t.co/crjWtgWQFB pic.twitter.com/FvnjKGTDkL
— NRCC (@NRCC) February 8, 2024

Biden Administration Hoses Alaska on Dept. of Transportation-Required Highway Plan

Among Congresswoman Peltola's votes:

She voted to cancel oil and gas leases in Alaska, which would have provided hundreds, if not thousands, of Alaskan jobs.
She voted against funding for Alaskan port projects. Again, Alaskan jobs were on the line; Mary Peltola voted against them.
She voted to reduce criminal penalties for a range of offenses in the District of Columbia. In lockstep with Democrats from the other 49 states, Mary Peltola supported soft-on-crime measures.
Mary Peltola is no friend to those serving the country in the military. She voted against increased funding for U.S. service members.
What's more, Mary Peltola is no friend to those who served the country in the past. She also voted against increased funding for Veterans Affairs

Alaskans for Honest Elections, the group working to repeal ranked-choice voting (RCV), has submitted 150% of the signatures (over 42,000) required to place the repeal on the ballot; the signatures are now being verified. With a bit of luck and an honest assessment of the signatures, a repeal of RCV may be on the Alaska general election ballot.

Alaskans should not, however, depend on that repeal if they wish to oust Mary Peltola. In the non-partisan primary, the three main candidates are Mary Peltola, who faces off against Republicans Nick Begich III and Lieutenant Governor Nancy Dahlstrom. In the RCV system, all three are likely to make it to the general election.

If Alaska Republicans wish to see this seat back in Republican hands - and taking back Alaska's sole House seat is vital to the GOP's retaining a majority in the House - then the "rank the red" strategy from the 2022 election is the way to do so. Alaska Republicans stand a much greater chance of flipping this seat by ranking both Republican candidates in first and second place; which is first and second matters little, if the goal is to flip the seat.

Alaska is all too often neglected in national politics. We have only one House seat and can offer only three Electoral College votes. But this year, Alaska has assumed more importance; if the GOP wants to retain their slim margin in the House, they need every seat they can get; and given Mary Peltola's voting record, this is a seat that looks ripe for the flipping.