Thursday was a debate marathon for Rep. Mary Peltola and her Republican challenger Nick Begich, who ran circles around the out-of-sorts Democrat, who continued her pattern of looking up at the ceiling and saying “um” whenever faced with a question, and repeatedly asking for the question to be asked a second time.
There was the Alaska Chamber of Commerce debate at noon, and then another debate, this one televised by KTUU, in the evening.
Peltola spoke in vague generalities in the KTUU-Alaska Public Media debate. While she continued to take credit for things she had nothing to do with, such as the Willow oil project on the North Slope, she could not answer basic questions posed by the two moderators, who were sympathetic left-leaning Rebecca Palsha of KTUU and Lori Townsend of Alaska Public Media.
For example, when asked about the $2 million in donations her campaign has received from a major crypto political action committee, Peltola said she had no idea what crypto even is. Fairshake PAC has mega-donors such as Marc Andreessen, who gave the political committee more than $19 million to spend on candidates. It has put $2 million into supporting Peltola, and Begich pointed out that this is how politicians end up getting bought — taking money from industries they don’t even understand.
But what caught the attention of many in the viewing audience is that when asked about Israel, Peltola would not say that she supports the country’s right to exist.
In fact, she would not even say the term “Israel” in her answer. Instead, she said, “The conflict in Palestine and, uh, in Gaza is terrible. It’s a real humanitarian crisis. And as a mother of seven, as a grandmother of two, of course, I want peace and prosperity everywhere. I think that it’s really important that we continue to provide humanitarian relief wherever we can. We need to make sure people are getting adequate amounts of food and water, and that we are preventing as many youth, um, civilians from being killed as possible.”
The terms “Palestine” and “Gaza” mimic how Israel is referred to by Rep. Ilhan Omar, who Peltola supported when Omar faced removal from the Foreign Affairs Committee due to her radical anti-semitic takes.
But then Peltola pivoted, and said clearly said she supports helping Ukraine and its fight against Russian aggression.
“I think that they’re fighting our war in many ways and I do support the efforts that they’re making,” Peltola said.
She just refused to make that same statement about Israel.
She also refused to say who she will vote for as president, and when challenged by the moderators, she snipped back at them: “It’s a secret ballot.”
While she wore a fisherman’s knit sweater for the Kodiak fish debate over the weekend, Peltola dressed in more business attire for the KTUU Debate for the State event. She wore black.
