Congressional candidate Nick Begich drew close to 150 people to his fundraiser in the Lake Hood area on Tuesday evening. It was at the same time that Rep. Mary Peltola had a telephone town hall meeting with Alaskans.
Begich reminded his supporters of some of the things that Peltola has done since taking office last year, including voting against parents rights, against public safety, and having the worst record for no-show on votes than all but 11 other members of Congress.
Nick also made the case that Alaska was once living up to its “North to the Future” motto. Today, people hear about places like Texas and Florida for opportunities for young people, and he wants Alaska to be the place known again as a land of opportunity.
Bernadette Wilson, who emceed the event, said that before Nick decided to run for Congress for a second time, he and many other leaders, including herself, called Republican activists across the state for weeks on end to see if anyone else was interested in running against Peltola.
After numerous conversations, it was clear no one was interested, Wilson said. Recognizing that the last thing he wanted to do is end up with multiple credible GOP candidates, Begich said that was a deciding factor, and he agreed to run again.
In 2022 general election race, he ended up with 5,000 votes less than second-place Sarah Palin, who has since closed her campaign account.
Wilson also highlighted that the Begich campaign is putting together a statewide finance team and has secured a robust team of regional chairs across the state.
While Peltola claims to be “Fish, Family, Freedom,” Wilson said one more word can be added to that motto: “Hashtag #FAIL.”
Alaska House Speaker Cathy Tilton, who supported Nick during his 2022 run, introduced him. Other elected officials attended, including Rep. Julie Columbe, Rep. Jamie Allard, Sen. James Kaufmann, Mayor Dave Bronson, and former Sen. Mia Costello.
While Begich took live questions from the crowd on Tuesday, Peltola was on the phone with her supporters in a telephone meeting that required participants to give their names and phone numbers to her office in order to participate.
