Former Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola's bid for Alaska's U.S. Senate seat is pushing back against a New York Times report that painted her campaign and congressional office as chaotic and marked by angry outbursts.
The Times, citing several unnamed former aides, reported profane tirades and displays of anger during her time in office and on the trail. The report also said internal friction led to a staff shakeup just days before Alaska's August primary.
Campaign spokesperson Harry Child disputed the characterization, saying Peltola treats staff with respect and maintains close ties with former aides across her decades of public service. He acknowledged that Peltola "sometimes struggled to deal with her grief" following the 2023 deaths of her mother and husband, Eugene, who died in a plane crash.
"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," Child said in a statement. He added that "exaggerating and outright lying about moments from the hardest period of her life, and falsely presenting them as a pattern of behavior, is wrong."
The Times detailed a specific incident in early 2024 when Peltola, frustrated over a missing memo, allegedly shoved a male staffer in the chest—an act the campaign described as an accidental bump. The newspaper also reviewed a 2024 text in which Peltola used vulgar language about Planned Parenthood, though the campaign said she regretted the remark. It denied allegations that she used a homophobic slur but acknowledged she had used an ableist slur.
Some former staffers recounted lighter moments, including an incident involving Peltola's daughter's pet chameleon, Meatball, whose live crickets escaped in her Capitol Hill office. Others offered only positive recollections of working with her.
The report also said that, ahead of this year's primary, Peltola brought in a new consultant after becoming frustrated with her team. When some staffers threatened to quit, the campaign reportedly fired longtime manager Elisa Rios and demoted chief of staff Anton McParland.
Peltola, who lost her House seat to Republican Nick Begich in 2024, is now challenging GOP Sen. Dan Sullivan. Her moderate, Alaska-first platform has fueled Democratic hopes of flipping a seat in a state that has backed Donald Trump in all three of his presidential runs. Alaska has sent a Democrat to the Senate only once in the last half-century, but the Cook Political Report rates the race a toss-up, and Decision Desk HQ goes further, calling it "lean Democratic."
Peltola declined to answer reporters' questions about the allegations at a Wednesday town hall, according to Alaska News Source. The campaign's denial comes as recent polling shows her with a narrow lead over Sullivan, suggesting the controversy may not yet be reshaping the race.
