A key Republican defends Alaska Senate candidate Mary Peltola after reports of abusive behavior

Kerry Tasker/Reuters

Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan criticized his Democratic opponent Mary Peltola, a former congresswoman, over allegations of abusive behavior toward members of her staff, which he described as “very disturbing.”

But Sullivan’s Republican colleague, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, offered a notable defense of Peltola.

The New York Times on Wednesday detailed allegations made by several former Peltola aides, who requested anonymity out of fear of retaliation or professional repercussions. The Times reported the aides said the former congresswoman engaged in angry and profane outbursts and at times used inappropriate language, including slurs used to describe gay people or individuals with intellectual disabilities.

The report also described one tense prep session when Peltola grew frustrated and allegedly berated one of the staff members. Another moment described in the reports alleged Peltola shoved a male employee in the chest when she could not find a memo for a meeting. The Times also said Peltola required “aides to feed live crickets to her family’s pet chameleon.”

Peltola’s campaign denied some of the allegations in the Times story but acknowledged others, saying she at times struggled to deal with the grief of losing her mother and her husband over a short time period in 2023 while serving in Congress.

“At the time of their passing, Mary was parenting kids through their own grief, serving full-time in the U.S. House of Representatives thousands of miles from home, and running a competitive re-election campaign – all while shouldering the enormous burden of grief,” said Peltola campaign spokesperson Harry Child. “Like any person who has gone through multiple personal tragedies in the span of a few months, Mary sometimes struggled to deal with her grief.”

“Exaggerating and outright lying about moments from the hardest period of her life, and falsely presenting them as a pattern of behavior, is wrong,” he added.

Peltola was first elected to Congress in a 2022 special election to complete the term of GOP Rep. Don Young following his death. She beat former GOP Gov. Sarah Palin in the race and then was elected to a full term in Congress that year. She lost her re-election bid in 2024.

On Capitol Hill Thursday, Sullivan described Peltola’s alleged behavior as a “character issue” and said he did not buy the former congresswoman’s explanation for her behavior.

“I think it’s very sad, very disturbing that so many Alaskans had to get put through that kind of severe abuse, which is very disturbing, but not surprising,” he said.

Asked by CNN if she felt the Times report accurately described Peltola, Alaska GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski said, “I think there are many parts of it that I find inflammatory.”

Murkowski, who supported Peltola in a past campaign but is siding with Sullivan in this race, also described the difficult situation the former congresswoman faced following the loss of her close family members. Eugene “Buzzy” Peltola Jr., Mary Peltola’s husband, died in a 2023 plane crash in Alaska.

“I do acknowledge that while she was here in her first term, she was not only thrown into a very challenging situation immediately running for campaign, but then to lose her husband in that airplane crash and to deal with all of that. That’s pressure that is hard for anybody to bear,” she said.

On Wednesday, Peltola ignored questions from reporters about the matter following a town hall in Anchorage, according to a local report.

It’s unclear how these allegations will play with voters in the state, but the outcome of Alaska’s Senate race could determine which party controls the upper chamber next year. Democrats have eyed Alaska as a potential pick-up opportunity heading into November.

Democratic Party leaders view Peltola as a top recruit and are hoping souring voter sentiment toward President Donald Trump over the economy and other issues will work in their favor.

But Democrats are also operating in difficult political terrain. Trump, who has floated campaigning for Sullivan this year, won Alaska in 2024 by 13 points, and the state has not elected a Democratic senator since 2008.

In last month’s all-party primary, Peltola emerged at the top of the pack earning 49.5% of the vote while Sen. Sullivan trailed behind her at 41.4%. But that’s not necessarily predictive of an outcome in November. In the 2024 primary for her House seat, Peltola earned 51% of the vote but still lost the general election later that year.

In addition to Peltola and Sen. Sullivan, the general election in November, which will use a ranked-choice voting system, will also feature Dan J. Sullivan, a former schoolteacher who filed to run as a Republican, and Gerald Heikes, another Republican. There is some GOP concern having two same-named Sullivans on the ticket could lead to confusion and split the vote in the highly competitive race.

CNN’s Manu Raju, Ted Barrett and Logan Schiciano contributed to this report.

凯瑞·塔斯克/路透社

共和党参议员丹·沙利文批评了他的民主党对手、前国会议员玛丽·佩尔托拉，指责她虐待其工作人员，他称这种行为“非常令人不安”。

但苏利文的共和党同事，参议员丽莎·穆尔科斯基，对佩尔托拉进行了引人注目的辩护。

《纽约时报》周三详细报道了几位前佩尔托拉助手的指控，这些助手因担心遭到报复或影响职业生涯而要求匿名。《纽约时报》报道称，这些助手表示，这位前国会议员经常愤怒地发表粗俗言论，有时还会使用不当语言，包括用侮辱性词语来描述同性恋者或智力障碍人士。

报告还描述了一次气氛紧张的准备会议，当时佩尔托拉变得沮丧，并据称斥责了一名工作人员。报告还描述了另一起事件，称佩尔托拉因找不到会议备忘录而推搡了一名男员工的胸部。《泰晤士报》还称，佩尔托拉要求“助手用活蟋蟀喂她家的宠物变色龙”。

佩尔托拉的竞选团队否认了《泰晤士报》报道中的一些指控，但也承认了其他一些指控，称她在2023年担任国会议员期间，在短时间内失去了母亲和丈夫，有时难以承受失去亲人的悲痛。

“在他们去世时，玛丽正忙于照顾悲痛中的孩子们，同时还要在离家数千英里的美国众议院全职工作，并积极开展竞争激烈的连任竞选——所有这些都是在她承受着巨大的悲痛的同时完成的，”佩尔托拉竞选发言人哈里·查尔德说。“就像任何一个在短短几个月内经历多起个人悲剧的人一样，玛丽有时也难以应对自己的悲伤。”

“夸大甚至公然撒谎描述她人生中最艰难时期的一些事情，并错误地将其描述为一种行为模式，这是错误的，”他补充道。

佩尔托拉于2022年首次当选国会议员，当时她参加了一场特别选举，以完成共和党众议员唐·杨去世后的剩余任期。她在选举中击败了前共和党州长萨拉·佩林，并在同年当选为国会正式议员。她在2024年的连任竞选中落败。

周四在国会山，沙利文将佩尔托拉的所谓行为描述为“品格问题”，并表示他不接受这位前女议员对其行为的解释。

“我认为很多阿拉斯加人遭受这种严重的虐待，这非常令人悲哀，非常令人不安，但并不令人意外，”他说。

当被 CNN 问及她是否认为《纽约时报》的报道准确地描述了佩尔托拉时，阿拉斯加州共和党参议员丽莎·穆尔科斯基表示：“我认为其中有很多部分都具有煽动性。”

穆尔科斯基曾在之前的竞选中支持佩尔托拉，但这次她转而支持苏利文。她还描述了这位前国会议员在失去至亲后所面临的困境。玛丽·佩尔托拉的丈夫尤金·“巴兹”·佩尔托拉二世于2023年在阿拉斯加的一场空难中丧生。

“我承认，在她第一个任期内，她不仅立即投入竞选活动，面临非常严峻的挑战，之后又在空难中失去了丈夫，还要应对所有这些事情。这对任何人来说都是难以承受的压力，”她说。

据当地媒体报道，周三，在安克雷奇举行的一次市政厅会议后，佩尔托拉无视了记者们就此事提出的问题。

目前尚不清楚这些指控将如何影响阿拉斯加州的选民，但阿拉斯加州参议员选举的结果可能决定明年哪个党派控制参议院。民主党一直将阿拉斯加视为11月大选前潜在的翻盘机会。

民主党领导人将佩尔托拉视为一名优秀的候选人，并希望选民对唐纳德·特朗普总统在经济和其他问题上的不满情绪能够对他们有利。

但民主党人也面临着艰难的政治环境。特朗普今年曾表示有意为苏利文助选，他在2024年以13个百分点的优势赢得了阿拉斯加州，而该州自2008年以来就未曾选出过民主党参议员。

在上个月的跨党派初选中，佩尔托拉以49.5%的得票率遥遥领先，而苏利文参议员以41.4%的得票率紧随其后。但这并不一定预示着11月大选的结果。在2024年她竞选众议院席位的初选中，佩尔托拉获得了51%的选票，但最终还是在当年的大选中落败。

除了佩尔托拉和苏利文参议员之外，11月的大选将采用排序复选制，届时还将有丹·J·苏利文（一位前教师，已登记为共和党候选人）和杰拉尔德·海克斯（另一位共和党人）参选。共和党方面担心，两位同名的苏利文出现在选票上可能会造成混乱，并在竞争激烈的选战中分散选票。

CNN的Manu Raju、Ted Barrett和Logan Schiciano对本报道亦有贡献。