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Trump to speak in Wasilla for midterm rally

Natalie Spaulding
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Trump to speak in Wasilla for midterm rally

Following Vice President JD Vance’s rally in Fairbanks for the reelection of Senator Dan Sullivan and Rep. Nick Begich, President Donald J. Trump will be coming to Wasilla to speak at a midterm rally on Tuesday, October 13.

When: Tuesday, October 13. Doors open at 12:00 PM. Program begins at 2:00 PM. Trump will be speaking at 3:30 PM.
Where: Menard Memorial Sports Center, 1001 S Clapp Street, Wasilla, AK, 99654
Register: Midterm Rally in Wasilla, Alaska featuring President Donald J. Trump

Vance’s speech had focused on Sullivan’s record including legislation to advance energy, military, and fishing protections. He contrasted Sullivan’s work with Peltola’s lack of bills signed into law and low vote attendance rate. He also highlighted Peltola support of boys playing in girls’ sports, open border policies, and opposition to resource development.

Senator Sullivan has served Alaskans in the Senate since 2015. His main challenger, Mary Peltola, served one term in the U.S. House of Representatives and then lost her reelection bid. Must Read Alaska shares reporting of Senator Sullivan’s work on behalf of Alaska and reasons to reelect him in the Ultimate Conservative Voter Guide Part I.

The Privilege of Abundance Without Virtue: A Thomistic Reckoning with Youth Since the 1950s 

Dr. Cindy
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The Privilege of Abundance Without Virtue: A Thomistic Reckoning with Youth Since the 1950s 

Beginning in the 1950s, American youth inherited material privileges unknown to prior generations. Postwar prosperity delivered cars, televisions, disposable income, expanded schooling, leisure, and a consumer culture that treated children as a distinct market. Toys, rock and roll, drive-ins, and suburban abundance replaced the hardships of the Depression and war. These goods were real. Yet from the perspective of St. Thomas Aquinas, they were incomplete and often disordered. Nature, Aquinas taught, “intends not only the begetting of offspring, but also its education and development [traductionem et promotionem] until it reach the perfect state of man as man, and that is the state of virtue.” Parents give their children three things: being, nourishment, and instruction (Aquinas, 1265–1274/1947, Suppl., q. 41, a. 1). When the third is neglected or outsourced, the first two become instruments of spoiling rather than formation. The result, now visible across generations, is a great number of confused, weak, depressed, addicted, and suicidal young people. 

Aquinas grounded parental duty in natural law and the common good of the family. Marriage exists for the good of the offspring: not only their physical survival but the perfection of their souls through virtue. Aquinas describes the child, before the use of reason, as held within a kind of “spiritual womb” of parental care (Aquinas, 1265–1274/1947, II-II, q. 10, a. 12). Education continues the work of generation, providing the intellectual and moral formation that leads a child from dependence to the ability to live prudently. Habits of temperance, fortitude, justice, and prudence must be instilled early, through example, correction, and explanation of the “why” (Aquinas, 1265–1274/1947, I-II, q. 51, aa. 2–3). Children watch closely, and parents who embody self-mastery teach more powerfully than words. Discipline is not punishment for its own sake but an opportunity for growth. Love provides the security that makes correction effective. This work belongs first to the family, especially in the years before the age of reason. Around age seven, a child becomes capable of moral discernment and begins to act with responsibility (Code of Canon Law, 1983, can. 97, §2). After that threshold, society, schools, and peers exert stronger influence. Formation delayed is formation forfeited. 

The 1950s marked the beginning of a decisive shift. The economic boom and the baby boom produced unprecedented external goods: higher living standards, more years of schooling, later entry into the labor force, and a youth culture of consumption and independence. Television and advertising targeted children directly, while wider access to cars granted mobility. Expert voices, beginning with Dr. Benjamin Spock, reassured parents that child-rearing need not be so demanding (Spock, 1946). These developments coincided with rising female labor-force participation. By the end of the 1960s, roughly 40 percent of women were in the workforce (Toossi, 2002), and dual-income households and formal childcare arrangements expanded all the more. Parents increasingly placed children in the hands of others, usually strangers, through schools, daycares, programs, and later screens, so that careers and personal freedom could continue with less interruption. Time-use data later showed that parents in some decades actually spent more hours with their children, yet the quality and primacy of that time changed (Sayer et al., 2004). Institutional settings and professional expertise often substituted for the daily, intimate work of forming character and habituating virtue at home. 

Abundance without corresponding virtue produces vice, and vice, like virtue, becomes ingrained by habit. External goods such as wealth, leisure, and safety are goods of fortune, and they serve the soul only when rightly ordered by prudence and temperance (Aquinas, 1265–1274/1947, I-II, q. 2). Left unchecked, they foster intemperance: the inability to delay gratification, to endure hardship, or to govern appetite. Fortitude then atrophies when every discomfort is removed, because the habit of virtue has been replaced by the habit of vice. Justice and piety toward parents weaken when authority is outsourced or treated as optional (Aquinas, 1265–1274/1947, II-II, q. 101). Children raised amid plenty but without disciplined habit reach the age of reason already formed by peers, media, and institutions rather than by the family. These children often lack the interior resources to govern themselves and tend to use people as objects, as means to an end, in a variety of ways. Scripture warns that “a young man according to his way, even when he is old he will not depart from it” (Douay-Rheims Bible, 1582–1610/1899, Proverbs 22:6). The converse is also true: habits of self-indulgence and dependence, once set, persist. This does not mean they cannot change, but therein lies the battle: whether the will yields to the passions or is rightly ordered by intellect and reason. 

The consequences have been measured, and the data are grim. Youth suicide rates began a long-term rise in the mid-to-late 1950s, a generational pattern in which each successive cohort faced higher risk at younger ages. Suicide risk, once concentrated among the elderly, shifted increasingly toward those under 35 (de Lacy et al., 2026). In recent decades the trend has accelerated: persistent sadness among high school students has climbed sharply (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2024), major depressive episodes have increased (Mojtabai et al., 2016), and emergency department visits for self-harm have risen (Mercado et al., 2017). Addiction has followed the same trajectory. Marijuana is now legal in many states, and today’s strains, whether smoked, vaped, or eaten, are far more potent than those of earlier decades. Cannabis seized in the 1970s averaged less than 2 percent THC (Stoner, 2019); by 2022, flower sold in Washington State’s legal market averaged 21 percent, and concentrates averaged 69 percent (Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board, n.d.). Across the last three generations, confusion about identity, purpose, and the good itself has become widespread. These are not merely “mental health” statistics. They are signs of souls unprepared for the rational and moral life that Aquinas identified as the proper end of human development. Sadly, with marijuana now legal in so many states, we cannot yet know its effect on the development of infants raised in homes where the smoke of these potent strains and other drugs hangs in the air. Because developmental harm unfolds slowly, the full picture may not emerge until years after the damage has been done. 

Delegating child-rearing also opened the door to neglect and abuse, because too many parents do not exercise due diligence when choosing childcare. When parents remove themselves to preserve careers and autonomy, children spend formative hours under the authority of strangers or systems whose primary loyalty is not to the child’s virtue. Institutions can fail, and often do, because no surrogate can secure the bond between parent and child as the parent can. Predators have become creative and hard to detect in exploiting gaps in supervision, and the internet has made this easier than at any other time in history. Even well-intentioned programs cannot replace the particular love and knowledge a mother and father possess. The family is the first school of the virtues because it is the first society ordered to the complete good of its members (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1997, paras. 1666, 2223; Second Vatican Council, 1965, para. 3). It must be stressed that no substitute fully replicates God’s original plan for rearing children: a man and a woman united in the sacrament of marriage, rightly living the unitive and procreative meaning of the marital act, welcoming the children with which He has blessed them, and raising them in a healthy, holy, and stable domestic church (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1997, paras. 1656, 2366; Paul VI, 1968, para. 12). 

The remedy is not nostalgia for scarcity but the recovery of order. Parents must learn to parent, and many were never shown how, given the brokenness of so many families in which one or both parents pursued self-fulfillment. This means reclaiming the primary right and duty of education rather than treating it as a task for specialists (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1997, para. 2221; John Paul II, 1981, para. 36). Mothers, in particular, must be mothers: present, attentive, and pouring themselves into their children in the early years, when habits take root most deeply. The years before the age of reason are decisive. A child who has been loved, corrected, and shown the reasons for good action by those who know him best enters the wider world with a formed will and a directed intellect. Society will still influence him, but it will not form him from scratch. 

Aquinas did not despise material goods. He recognized that external goods can support the life of virtue (Aquinas, 1265–1274/1947, I-II, q. 4, a. 7). The error of the last seventy years has been to treat those goods as sufficient and parental sacrifice as optional. Freedom and career have their place, but they are subordinate to the family’s natural end. When parents choose the former at the expense of the latter, they withhold the very instruction nature requires. The harvest is weakness where strength was needed, confusion where clarity was possible, and despair where hope should have been planted. Restoring the family as the primary school of virtue is not a private preference. It is the condition for producing adults capable of living according to reason and, ultimately, of knowing God. Until parents accept that burden again, the privileges of the postwar world will continue to exact a hidden and terrible price. 

Sources

Aquinas, T. (1947). Summa theologica (Fathers of the English Dominican Province, Trans.). Benziger Bros. (Original work written 1265–1274) 

Catechism of the Catholic Church (2nd ed.). (1997). Libreria Editrice Vaticana. 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2024). Youth Risk Behavior Survey data summary & trends report: 2013–2023. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. https://www.cdc.gov/yrbs/dstr/pdf/YRBS-2023-Data-Summary-Trend-Report.pdf 

Code of Canon Law. (1983). Libreria Editrice Vaticana. 

de Lacy, N., Danks, D., Lam, W., Smith, K., Collins, T., Wilson, F., & Pescosolido, B. (2026). A century of suicide: Insights from long-term data in the United States. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 123. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2519951123 

Douay-Rheims Bible. (1899). John Murphy Company. (Original work published 1582–1610) 

John Paul II. (1981). Familiaris consortio [Apostolic exhortation]. Libreria Editrice Vaticana. https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_jp-ii_exh_19811122_familiaris-consortio.html 

Mercado, M. C., Holland, K., Leemis, R. W., Stone, D. M., & Wang, J. (2017). Trends in emergency department visits for nonfatal self-inflicted injuries among youth aged 10 to 24 years in the United States, 2001–2015. JAMA, 318(19), 1931–1933. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2017.13317 

Mojtabai, R., Olfson, M., & Han, B. (2016). National trends in the prevalence and treatment of depression in adolescents and young adults. Pediatrics, 138(6), Article e20161878. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2016-1878 

Paul VI. (1968). Humanae vitae [Encyclical letter]. Libreria Editrice Vaticana. https://www.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_25071968_humanae-vitae.html 

Sayer, L. C., Bianchi, S. M., & Robinson, J. P. (2004). Are parents investing less in children? Trends in mothers’ and fathers’ time with children. American Journal of Sociology, 110(1), 1–43. https://doi.org/10.1086/386270 

Second Vatican Council. (1965). Gravissimum educationis [Declaration on Christian education]. Libreria Editrice Vaticana. https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_decl_19651028_gravissimum-educationis_en.html 

Spock, B. (1946). The common sense book of baby and child care. Duell, Sloan and Pearce. 

Stoner, S. A. (2019). Potency of marijuana. University of Washington, Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute. https://adai.uw.edu/pubs/pdf/sto19-02.pdf 

Toossi, M. (2002). A century of change: The U.S. labor force, 1950–2050. Monthly Labor Review, 125(5), 15–28. https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2002/05/art2full.pdf 

Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board. (n.d.). Understanding THC concentration and potency. Retrieved September 22, 2026, from https://lcb.wa.gov/education/understanding_thc_concentration_and_potency 

Opinion: What if and so what?

Jim Minnery
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Opinion: What if and so what?

How would a Governor JKT Administration and full-throated Democrat-controlled Legislature impact Alaskans who adhere to the teachings of Scripture?

Ultimately, all of this election and campaign madness right now is much more about policies than personalities. Certainly, we want upstanding people to run for and serve the people as public office holders.

At the same time, the often quoted Proverb stating that the people rejoice when the righteous are in power and groan when the wicked rule (Prov 29:2) also means that when righteousness increases, flourishes or gains influence within society, the people benefit and when falsehoods about God and reality gain governing power, a society suffers.

The statement, likely written by King Solomon, son of King David, wasn’t saying that perfectly righteous people had to or even could rule. He knew about his own transgressions and he certainly knew about those of his father. Biblical wisdom, as laid out throughout Scripture, seems to emphasize what rulers actually did with the authority entrusted to them.

What could a unified government led by Democrats mean for those of faith in Alaska?

For Alaska pastors and Christian leaders, the consequences of state government extend far beyond taxes, budgets, and traditional partisan politics. Decisions made in Juneau can directly affect the protection of unborn life, religious liberty, rights of conscience, parental authority, Christian education, sexuality and gender policy, women’s sports, and the freedom of churches and ministries to operate according to their convictions.

Democrat Alaska lawmakers have already introduced measures involving most of these. Some proposals died in committee. Others advanced. Some passed a chamber. And in at least one important example discussed below, legislation passed both houses but was stopped by the governor’s veto.

Simply put, control of the governorship and both legislative chambers would change the institutional landscape considerably.

For pastors, this is therefore more than a political discussion. It is a policy question about the environment in which churches minister, Christian schools educate, parents raise their children, medical professionals exercise conscience, religious organizations seek to remain faithful to their beliefs and ultimately, if the taking of innocent life will be exacerbated.

The following analysis examines what the Alaska legislative record tells us could be at stake.

Perhaps nowhere could the policy consequences be greater than abortion.

The question would not simply be whether abortion remains legal in Alaska. The Alaska Supreme Court has repeatedly manufactured a “right” to abortion “emanating from the penumbra” of our State Constitutional privacy clause. We are as bad as it gets in terms of protections provided to the pre-born.

A Democrat-controlled Governor and Alaska Legislature would almost certainly double down even further as they have in radical pro-abortion states like California and New York where abortion policy extends far beyond legality itself.

Governor JKT and a willing Democrat-led Alaska Legislature could:

• Increase abortion availability in state law and/or the Alaska Constitution
• Expand state financial support for abortion providers or abortion-access programs
• Require broader insurance coverage involving abortion
• Expand public funding of abortion
• Promote abortion pill access through tele-health
• Shield Alaska abortionists from investigations, subpoenas or lawsuits originating in states with more restrictive abortion laws

These aren’t merely theoretical policy models.

California constitutionally protects abortion and reports investing more than $200 million in abortion access initiatives. It has established an Abortion Access Fund and enacted protections involving providers and medication abortion. New York requires Medicaid and state-regulated private insurance coverage of abortion, allows minors to obtain abortions without parental permission, and has enacted interstate “shield” protections.

Alaska legislators have already considered movement in this broader direction.

HB 241— Reproductive Health: Legal Protections— proposed protections involving search warrants, arrests, extradition, subpoenas, medical information, telecommunications records, civil litigation and enforcement of laws from other states.

There is a significant policy distance between allowing abortion and affirmatively protecting or facilitating access through funding, insurance, telehealth, medication access, privacy protections and interstate shield laws.

A unified Democrat-led state government would most certainly determine where Alaska falls on that spectrum.

Chemical & surgical mutilation of gender confused minors

The Alaska State Medical Board has taken significant steps toward prohibiting chemical and surgical mutilation of minors. In 2025, the Board unanimously adopted a statement opposing hormonal and surgical treatment for gender dysphoria in minors, citing what it characterized as insufficient evidence of long-term benefit and risks of irreversible harm, and supporting legislative limits and psychological counseling as an alternative.

The Board subsequently developed and submitted to the Department of Law regulations prohibiting this egregious malpractice. Unfortunately, the Dunleavy administration has still not given the regulations back to the Board for a final vote and public input.

Governor Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins would most certainly appoint members in support of chemically and surgically mutilating minors. Full stop.

Sexual orientation & gender identity

Legislation adding sexual orientation and gender identity to Alaska’s civil-rights statutes has been introduced repeatedly.

Current HB 301 would expand nondiscrimination protections involving sexual orientation and gender identity or expression. The Human Rights Commission says the legislation would extend its jurisdiction in these areas beyond employment into public accommodations, real estate, credit/financing and state and local government practices.

For churches, Christian schools and ministries, that raises important questions about religious hiring, codes of conduct, facilities, public accommodations and participation in government programs.

Although constitutional religious-liberty protections would remain, despite our uber-liberal Alaska Supreme Court, disputes over the boundary between nondiscrimination requirements and religious exercise would almost certainly increase.

Religious liberty & conscience

The issue isn’t that religious liberty would disappear. The issue is what happens when newly created statutory rights or government mandates collide with religious beliefs and conscience claims. Potential conflicts could involve Christian schools, faith-based employers, ministries, health professionals, counselors and religious social-service organizations.

A critical legislative question would therefore be: Will new mandates contain meaningful religious and conscience protections? Doubtful.

Counseling & the LGBTQIA2+ issue

HB 43 and HB 8 were introduced in the Alaska Legislature to prohibit counselors from providing support to clients who have unwanted same-sex attraction or gender confusion. That ordinance is actually in place in Anchorage right now. Of course, counselors can provide all the help they want to clients who want to embrace homosexuality or pretend they are another sex. Similar legislation, almost certainly, would return and Governor JKT would quickly sign it into law.

Parents vs Schools

Alaska has already debated legislation involving some of today’s most controversial parent-school questions:

Who decides what children are taught about sexuality and gender?
Must parents be notified about changes involving their child’s name or pronouns?
Should parents affirmatively consent to sexuality-related instruction?
When should student confidentiality take precedence over parental notification?

Future legislation with a Democrat trifecta in Juneau would determine where Alaska places the balance between parental authority, student autonomy and school discretion.

Girls’ & women’s sports

Alaska legislators (Shelley Hughes and Jamie Allard) have repeatedly proposed protections to prevent males from competing against females in school athletics but we haven’t been able to get that across the finish line as they have in other states.

Our Alaska Board of Education has implemented regulations effectively accomplishing the same thing but guess who gets to appoint those members ? The Governor and JKT would most assuredly fill it with allies who believe confused males have every right to enter women’s sports arenas. 

If Alaska becomes blue, Legislation will certainly be introduced to give males the right to enter female sports. We only need to look to California, New York, and Minnesota with laws already on the books doing that exact thing. 

Contraception & health-care mandates

This area provides particularly strong evidence of how changing control of government can affect legislation.

HB 17 required insurance and medical-assistance coverage involving contraceptives and related services. It passed both houses before Gov. Mike Dunleavy vetoed it.

There is also a direct connection to Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins’ legislative record. Kreiss-Tomkins was a sponsor of HB 58 in 2021, an earlier proposal mandating insurance and medical-assistance coverage for contraceptives and related services.

School choice & Christian education

Major policy fights could involve charter schools, correspondence programs, homeschooling, education funding, parental authority and Christian/private education.

There is also an important new issue: the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit program. The federal program provides a 100% federal tax credit for qualifying contributions to scholarship-granting organizations, which can provide scholarships for eligible educational expenses. State participation is required.

That makes the next governor’s decision extremely consequential for Christian education. A Governor Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins almost certainly would choose not to opt Alaska into the program as Governor Dunleavy already has. If Alaska opts out, Alaska families would lose access to a significant new source of funding for educational expenses, including assistance benefiting students attending Christian schools.

For Christian education, the financial consequences could be significant.

The Governor matters even without new laws

The governor’s influence extends beyond signing and vetoing bills. An administration influences agencies responsible for education, health care, civil-rights enforcement and regulations, while the attorney general determines important state litigation positions. Appointments to boards and commissions also dramatically impact implementation of existing law. Significant policy changes can occur even when the Legislature passes nothing new.

The bottom line

For Alaska pastors and Christian leaders, the question is not merely who occupies political office. It is what policies those offices have the authority to advance, stop, sign, administer and enforce.

For Alaskans concerned about life, religious liberty, conscience rights, parental authority, women’s sports, protecting gender-confused minors, school choice and Christian education, November 3rd is about more than character, disposition, or temperament— although those are certainly important.

How you vote will determine how you can live out your faith and what kind of truth, or falsehood, is advanced in the Great Land.

Vote by the record: JD Vance speaks at Fairbanks rally for Sullivan and Begich

Natalie Spaulding
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Vote by the record: JD Vance speaks at Fairbanks rally for Sullivan and Begich

On Monday, October 5, Vice President JD Vance spoke at a rally in Fairbanks, encouraging Alaskans to re-elect Senator Dan S. Sullivan and Rep. Nick Begich. He focused on Sullivan’s work advancing policy on energy, military, and fishing, contrasting Sullivan’s record with Peltola’s failure to get bills across the line or even show up to vote many times. He also highlighted Peltola support of boys playing in girls’ sports, open border policies, and opposition to resource development.

Vance appeared with Sullivan, the incumbent Republican, who is running against Democrat Mary Peltola. The visit came the same day the U.S. Department of Energy announced funding for a new Railbelt power line.

He started with thanking Governor Mike Dunleavy and said Sullivan had told him to start in Fairbanks because it is where Sullivan’s wife, Julie, is from and where they first settled. He praised the university, the northern lights, and people who work in the extreme cold, and he urged people to vote in Fairbanks municipal elections, which are underway today, October 6.

First, he talked about why Alaskans should re-elect Begich on November 3. He praised Begich’s unusually productive freshman record of 14 sponsored bills with 6 of them signed into law. “That’s actually the most by a freshman in the history of the United States House of Representatives,” he stated.

Then Vance spoke in support of Senator Dan Sullivan, emphasizing his service in the U.S. Marines and calling him one of the best colleagues from his own two years in the Senate. He said that when Sullivan entered office the Pentagon treated Alaska as a strategic backwater, but Sullivan’s work put Alaska front and center in national defense talks, producing the largest military buildup in the state since World War II. He cited two F-35 squadrons “right down the road,” the 11th Airborne Division, and missile-defense spending. The Army reactivated the 11th Airborne Division in Alaska on June 6, 2022, placing about 12,000 soldiers under one Arctic-focused command. Two F-35A squadrons, 54 aircraft, were stood up at Eielson Air Force Base by May 2022.

On fisheries, Vance accused Peltola of talking about commercial fishing while doing little in office, contrasting her record with Sullivan’s. “What did Mary Peltola do for Alaska’s fisherman when she was in office? Not a damn thing,” he stated. “It’s thanks to Dan that our Coast Guard is now patrolling the waters, ensuring that Alaska’s fish go to Alaska’s fishermen, not to foreigners who are trying to steal from our fisheries.” He also joked about getting late night texts from Sullivan on salmon fishing: “What nobody tells you is that Dan Sullivan is going to text you at 3 in the morning with lessons about commercial salmon fishing.”

On energy, Vance said Sullivan has pushed to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and drilling in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. He then talked about the Department of Energy’s announcement of the Alaska Rail Transmission Project, which includes approximately $400 million to build more than 200 miles of transmission line connecting Beluga and Healy.

He called the Alaska LNG project the country’s top energy-dominance priority, saying foreign buyers should help build it or face a tax on energy they import. He highlighted the project’s 40-year history, claiming that he and President Trump would get it done.

Regarding Peltola, Vance said Democrats are running “the same woman” Alaskans “kicked out of Congress in 2024,” when Begich won the at-large House seat. He said Peltola got no bill signed into law in two House terms and failed to show up for many votes. “Her sole job was to support Alaskans in the House of Representatives. Yet, she couldn’t be bothered to show up for one in five votes,” he stated. The claim checks out. According to the House Clerk roll calls compiled by GovTrack, Peltola missed 234 of 1,241 votes in the 118th Congress or 18.9 percent, close to one in five, ranking her as the 10th most absent among all U.S. Representatives.

He also said she voted supports boys competing in girls’ sports. On April 20, 2023, the House passed H.R. 734, the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, 219–203, with the vote split along party lines. The Clerk’s roll call records Peltola as voting no. The bill ties school-sports eligibility under Title IX to biological sex and has been received in the Senate. He also said she voted to “keep the Mexican border wide open” and to let “illegal aliens” participate in elections. He claimed that in 2023 she co-led a bill to roll back Biden-era limits on new oil and gas leases, then voted against her own bill after Nancy Pelosi asked her to.

Then Vance talked about Peltola’s spending habits, stating that her campaign committee spent approximately $200,000 on hotels and restaurants, including Grubhub and DoorDash, and that she worked as a lobbyist making almost half a million dollars a year. Federal Election Commission filings for Mary Peltola for Alaska, committee C00812388, are the underlying record. A March 2026 complaint filed with the FEC cites those reports for travel, lodging, meals, and DoorDash and Grubhub charges, and for total post-election spending above $200,000. The complaint’s own breakdown does not put the full sum on hotels and restaurants alone. The complaint also alleges that Peltola was paid $400 million as a “purported lobbyist,” an amount which “grossly exceeded the value of the work (or lack thereof) that she was performing.”

Vance closed by asking voters to return Sullivan to the Senate and to vote for Begich, describing Alaska as a living frontier and warning of Democrats’ intentions to use the state to impeach Trump and shut down energy projects.

Watch the full speech:

Print, save, share: PDF version of the Ultimate Conservative Voter Guide available

Must Read Alaska
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Print, save, share: PDF version of the Ultimate Conservative Voter Guide available

Dear readers,

We have put together a PDF version of our Ultimate Conservative Voter Guide Part I so you can print it out, attach it to emails, and save it on your desktop! Remember, the most important thing is to show up! Voters are more likely to get to the polls or fill out a mail-in ballot when they have a clear plan and feel confident. So, spread the word, and please share the Ultimate Conservative Voter Guide with your family, friends, neighbors, and on your social medias!

We are working on Part II, which will cover State legislative races, which are also very important. Then Part III will cover the Judicial branch— again, incredibly important. So, stay tuned and stay engaged!

All three parts of the Ultimate Conservative Voter Guide are FREE resources to help voters in their decision-making. The web version requires users to register a free account to access the content, which signs you up for our Must Read Weekly newsletter (you can unsubscribe from emails anytime and retain web access to free content).

If you like the work we do and want to support us, please consider a paid subscription. Our best value plan is the All In plan which guarantees access to all web content, exclusive local stories, daily Must Read News and Opinion in your inbox, and more benefits! You can go All-In for 75% off today with this link: 75% off All-In subscription.

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Your support helps us continue to be a force for good, delivering Alaskans honest, quality news and commentary from an unabashedly conservative perspective.

Thank you and God bless,
The MRAK Team

PDF Version of the Ultimate Conservative Voter Guide

The-Ultimate-2026-Conservative-Voter-Guide-Part-I-Must-Read-AlaskaDownload

Alaska’s grid gets $418m update with new transmission line connecting Beluga and Healy

Must Read Alaska
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Alaska’s grid gets $418m update with new transmission line connecting Beluga and Healy

Today, October 5, 2026, the U.S. Department of Energy announced its intent to deploy Defense Production Act (DPA) funding to develop a second high-voltage connection between Southcentral and Interior Alaska, strengthening grid infrastructure essential to national defense. The Alaska Energy Authority’s Beluga-Healy Transmission Project combines up to $150 million in DPA funding with $268 million in non-federal funding, representing a planned total investment of $418 million in Alaska’s grid. 

Approximately 223 miles of new transmission line connecting Beluga and Healy will be built. Once complete, grid operators will have an additional pathway to move power between Alaska’s most densely populated communities and major military installations–lowering electricity costs and strengthening grid reliability for approximately 75% of Alaska’s population.

Thanks to President Trump and the passage of the Working Families Tax Cut, $1 billion in federal funding has been appropriated for energy-related projects deemed critical to national security. Presidential Determination No. 2026-10 identifies transmission lines and conductors, substations, and power-control and protection equipment as essential to national defense.

“Supporting improvements to Alaska’s transmission infrastructure with Defense Production Act funds reflects the Trump Administration’s commitment to strengthening national security, improving grid reliability, and lowering electricity costs,” U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said. “Thanks to Senator Sullivan, I received an extensive briefing from the Alaska Energy Authority during my recent visit to Anchorage in August. This meeting, combined with briefings from Alaska Command, confirmed the need to support an expansion of Alaska’s energy infrastructure. This project will not only support the major U.S. military expansion currently underway in Alaska, but also mining and other resource development critical to our national security.”

“Alaska’s weather is unforgiving, and its grid needs another way to keep power moving,” said Office of Electricity Assistant Secretary Katie Jereza. “Beluga-Healy will provide that critical second route, helping protect communities from disruptions and meet growing demand.”

The current project has a preliminary planning estimate of approximately $418 million. This project reflects the Trump Administration’s focus on delivering critical energy infrastructure while protecting taxpayer dollars and ratepayers. 

Press release provided by the U.S. Department of Energy.

Plethora of presentations on medicine, education, and more at Alaskans 4 Personal Freedom conference

Natalie Spaulding
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Plethora of presentations on medicine, education, and more at Alaskans 4 Personal Freedom conference

Alaskans 4 Personal Freedom held their annual freedom conference on Saturday, October 3, titled “Beyond the Narrative.” The theme for the all-day conference was “the truth begins where the script ends.” It featured expert presentations on hyperbaric oxygen therapy, food as medicine, DEI and AI in education, vaccines, water purification, and more. Candidate for Governor Treg Taylor and Candidate for Lt. Governor Mike Shower, running with Bernadette Wilson, also gave short speeches. All of the candidates for Governor had been invited.

Medicine, nutraceuticals, and hyperbaric oxygen

Dr. Ilona Farr gave the first talk, presenting a rapid summary of recent advances and topics of interest in medicine. She talked about nutraceuticals, which are foods or food-derived products that provide medical benefits. Purple potatoes were described as high in potassium and antioxidants that may slow cancer-cell growth. Haskap berries, Lonicera caerulea, were cited for memory improvement and blood-pressure reduction within an hour and a half of consumption. Fireweed, Chamerion angustifolium, was presented as a traditional Alaskan and Russian plant used for vitamin C, inflammation, and digestion. Rhubarb roots were said to be under oncology study for compounds that inhibit cell proliferation.

Next, former Alaska legislator Sharon Jackson shared about the Integrative Medicine Chamber of Commerce, which she founded as a body meant to organize practitioners and lobby for recognition of alternative modalities like hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT).

Dr. Daphne Denham dived further into hyperbaric oxygen therapy, which is a treatment that gives a patient 100 percent oxygen delivered above atmospheric pressure, aimed at tissue that is ischemic but not yet dead. Dr. Denham made absolutely clear that necrotic tissue cannot be revived but swollen or poorly perfused tissue can still be reached and improved. Oxygen dissolves into plasma and travels about five times farther than regular air, helping oxygenate tissues that are otherwise not getting enough oxygen. Studies revealed HBOT reducing swelling 20 to 30 percent, helping with vasoconstriction balance, and resolving compartment syndrome. The therapy is described as FDA-approved for compartment syndrome and frostbite. Dr. Denham and other practitioners assert acute traumatic brain injury should be included in that approval because it treats the skull as a closed compartment.

Dr. Denham stated Alaska has the highest traumatic-brain-injury rate in the country and a suicide rate three times the national average, arguing “we cannot afford to not treat concussions.” She said HBOT is successful in helping some veterans and student-athletes with suicidal ideation and depression by treating traumatic brain injuries. According to Dr. Denham, suicide becomes 3-4x more likely after someone has a concussion, offering a potential contributing factor of Alaska’s high suicide rates.

DEI and AI in education

The conference then shifted to education with Paul Runko’s presentation “DEI to AI: The New Frontiers in the Battle for America’s Children.” Runko argued that diversity, equity, and inclusion is a rebrand of critical race theory, citing Fairfax County’s “privilege bingo” where students’ bingo cards had squares such as “White,” “Military kid,” “Both parents went to college,” and other life circumstances or characteristics deemed as a contributor to “privilege.” Runko pointed out that the bingo game leaves every child feeling bad about things outside of their control. He also pointed to Los Angeles’ race-restricted Black Student Achievement Program created by the school district despite data showing academic struggle across races.

He said about 80 percent of polled parents want schools to disclose gender-identity issues, but schools all across America allow or even require teachers to withhold that information from parents. He quoted American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten’s 2021 remark about using the pandemic “for the society we want to see,” and said the National Education Association of Alaska received $34 million over eight years through deductions made automatically to teachers’ salaries. Schools are subsequently becoming more left-wing in ideology, but producing dismal results as far as math and reading goes.

He then transitioned to AI, stating that artificial-intelligence access through Google Classroom was pushed into schools overnight without administrator, parent, or board consent. AI is now being used to further proliferate liberal ideology in schools. Runko pointed to local examples included the Anchorage School District renaming Veterans Day a professional-development day, disclaimers issued with copies of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence, the Association of Alaska School Boards promoting Southern Poverty Law Center social-justice standards, and student walkouts against immigration enforcement and the Trump administration. He urged parents to attend board meetings, file Alaska open-records requests, use Defending Education’s incident form, use the opt-out letter tied to a recent Supreme Court parental-rights ruling under the Fourteenth Amendment, and file federal civil-rights complaints. Defending Education has filed about 20 such complaints this year and about 60 since its founding.

Vaccines

Dr. Bob Sears talked about vaccines, arguing that the vaccines for whooping cough, polio, and diphtheria do not stop infection or transmission and may trade off longer-term immunity. He credited public health measures and better sanitation for decline of those diseases, asserting that they would not likely return if people stopped getting those vaccines because the vaccines never prevented them in the first place. Instead, the whooping-cough shot mutes symptoms, the polio vaccine prevents nerve damage, and the diphtheria vaccines protects against toxins in the diphtheria germ, but not the germ itself. He contrasted this with the measles vaccine, which does prevent the measles infection, not only lessening symptoms caused by the germ.

In over 28 years of practice, Dr. Sears stated he found no infection-related intensive-care stays, permanent disability, or deaths among his unvaccinated patients, and fewer sick visits. He offered a theory that vaccination lowers the body’s natural immune response, making it more susceptible to germs which don’t have a vaccine, causing vaccinated people to be sick more often. He admitted supporting studies are retrospective, not controlled, citing ethical barriers to conducting a controlled study. He made clear his theory is only a theory and said he simply informs patients rather than advising them against vaccination.

Treg Taylor and Mike Shower speak briefly

Then former Alaska Attorney General and 2026 Candidate for Governor Treg Taylor took the stage, recalling an early-pandemic briefing by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to Republican attorneys general on vaccine and Anthony Fauci concerns. Taylor emphasized Democratic attorney generals unwillingness to hear the concerns.

Next, Candidate for Lt. Governor Mike Shower spoke briefly, urging yes votes on Ballot Measure 2 to repeal ranked-choice voting and on Measure 3 to codify a citizenship requirement for voting. He warned that ranking only one Republican leads to exhausted ballots and helps the Democrat reach a majority by shrinking the total pool. He encouraged voters to rank all three Republicans.

Water purification

Dr. Pierre Kory gave a presentation via Zoom on water and water treatment. He had left conventional practice during Covid and started his own practice to treat patients with Ivermectin, which he spoke at length about at last year’s freedom conference. He has also written three books on water and minerals. He described Themarox, a Japanese extract from volcanic biotite and vermiculite developed by Sal Shimanishi, made by leaching rock with sulfuric acid. When added to water, the charged sulfated minerals precipitate contaminants in 24 to 48 hours, with 0.1 milliliter said to treat a liter. He visited the sole Themarox plant in the mountains of Fukushima, away from radiation-affected areas, and met manager Mr. Ishii and Professor Satoshi Nomura. A home test of 10 bottled waters produced visible precipitate in most, demonstrating areas for improvement in modern water treatment.

He attributed roughly half of the total mortality drop, and most of the infant and child drop, in 13 American cities from 1900 to 1936 to sand filtration, aluminum-sulfate flocculation, and chlorination. He also called mineral bathing possibly the first medicine, speaking about how cultures tend to build around waters they believe are sacred and healing.

More freedom conference

The freedom conference also featured Jill Hines who talked about protecting individual health rights, Jill Diane who talked about defending nature from atmospheric experimentation, and Dr. Ryan Cole who spoke about alternative therapies to treat cancer. The conference also included a panel discussion with audience questions at the end.

A recording of the conference and all the speakers’ PowerPoint presentations will be made available at a later date by Alaskans 4 Personal Freedom. Check for those materials here: Alaskans 4 Personal Freedom – Fighting for your rights! Free To Sign Up!

Craig Richards and Scott Kendall debate ballot measure 2 Lincoln-Douglas style

Natalie Spaulding
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Craig Richards and Scott Kendall debate ballot measure 2 Lincoln-Douglas style

Former Alaska Attorney General Craig Richards and attorney Scott Kendall debated Ballot Measure 2 on Monday, September 28, at the Petroleum Club of Anchorage, in a Lincoln-Douglas format hosted by Commonwealth North and moderated by board member Jon Katchen.

The formal debate included timed speeches, cross-examination, and rebuttals with equal time for each side, followed by 15 minutes of audience questions. Commonwealth North took no position.

Voters adopted the current ranked-choice voting system in 2020. A 2024 repeal failed by 743 votes after a recount. Now the question is back on the ballot this November. Measure 2 would repeal ranked-choice voting, the top-four “jungle” primary, and certain campaign-finance disclosure rules adopted in 2020.

Richards, who represented the sponsoring group Repeal Now, called the 2020 package a logroll funded by liberal mega-donors. He said jungle primaries push several candidates from the same party into the general election and reward the side that fields fewer of them. He pointed to the 2022 special election, in which Sarah Palin and Nick Begich split Republican votes and Mary Peltola won, and said about 15,000 ballots were discarded before she won by 5,296 votes, even though about 60 percent of first-round votes went to non-Democrats. He argued ranked-choice voting “trashes” ballots when voters do not rank every candidate, and that it rewards gamesmanship over voters’ will— exampled by Tom Begich dropping out of the 2026 governor’s race, leaving one Democrat against three Republicans.

Kendall, an architect of the 2020 measure and a former chief of staff to Gov. Bill Walker, defended the system as a fit for Alaska’s electorate. He said about 64 percent of Alaskans are nonpartisan or undeclared, that those voters account for about 62 percent of primary turnout, and that 53 percent do not vote a straight party ticket. He said repeal would let parties shut nonpartisans out of primaries, that ranked-choice voting produces majority winners and stops vote-splitting, and that spoilage is at or below pre-2020 levels. He quoted a 2002 Alaska Republican Party line that ranked-choice voting is “good government at its best.”

Analysis: “Saying So Doesn’t Make It So”— How Do ‘No on 2’ Claims at Aug 5 Hearing Hold Up to Reality?

Kendall critiqued the measure for potentially leading to closed primaries, arguing the bill’s language gives each major party the statutory power to close its primary to nonpartisan and undeclared voters. Must Read Alaska reported August 31 that the Alaska Supreme Court left in place ballot language beginning “This act would get rid of open primaries,” after an August 27 order that added only a note on separating governor and lieutenant governor elections. Repeal Now said the phrase is misleading: a yes vote would end the single all-candidate ballot and top-four advance, and return Alaska to party ballots on which independents could still vote. Kendall, in the ballot-language case, acknowledged a yes vote returns the state to those pre-2020 default primaries.

On money, Richards said the 2020 true-source rules are a one-sided reporting burden and that pre-2020 disclosure was enough. Kendall said the disclosure law is what revealed repeal-side donors, including Elon Musk at $1.5 million and Pennsylvania billionaire Jeff Yass, and that repeal would reopen anonymous giving through intermediaries. He called disclosure the antiseptic that protects elections. Richards answered that the rules are gameable and that a clean repeal lets the Legislature rewrite them later.

Must Read Alaska’s Ultimate Conservative Voter Guide urges a yes vote to get rid of the 2020 law that instituted the mess of ranked-choice voting, jungle primaries, and burdensome finance rules. Election Day is November 3.

Watch the full debate here.

40 Days for Life begins: A 6-week vigil to save babies

Guest Writer
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40 Days for Life begins: A 6-week vigil to save babies

By Theresa Bird

The fall 40 Days for Life campaign of prayer, fasting, and peaceful public witness for an end to abortion began last week on September 23rd and runs through November 1st. Held on the sidewalks in front of the Anchorage Planned Parenthood, the six-week vigil runs from 7am-8pm, Monday through Saturday. 

While no official kickoff rally was organized, one group of high school students took the initiative to coordinate and met up on the sidewalk the very first day. Holy Rosary Academy’s Students for Life chapter invited their friends to join them in prayer for an hour once their 6pm soccer game at Kincaid was over. Nearly 20 kids showed up to pray as the sun went down on Wednesday evening. 

“When we heard there wasn’t going to be an official rally, we decided we needed to try to organize one ourselves. I wish we’d been able to reach more people and invite them beforehand, but by the time we realized the vigil was approaching, we only had 3 days to plan,” said HRA’s SFL President Francis Bird.  

Joined by friends from Palmer and Lumen Christi Highschool, a number of kids from Holy Rosary’s soccer team jumped right in to embrace what local 40DFL organizer Mary Kemper calls “the core work of 40 Days,” which is our presence on the sidewalks, 7am-8pm, Monday through Saturday, September 23 to October 31. 

“Our mere presence on the sidewalk changes the minds of mothers and fathers headed into abortion facilities. This gives them time to be offered and to consider life-giving alternatives to abortion,” says Kemper. “Peaceful public witness can also awaken the consciences of those driving by.” 

Kemper hopes that many more individuals will follow these students’ example and sign up to pray in front of Planned Parenthood for an hour a week during the fall campaign. November 1st is coming up in less than five weeks, so the commitment shouldn’t be overwhelming, she pointed out. 

“Sometimes people contact me to help them find a prayer partner because they don’t want to go out alone. I think that’s great. Find someone from your parish, among your friends or family, and please sign up for an hour together— you can save a child’s life and protect his or her mother from the trauma of abortion.”  

Sign up here: 40 Days for Life.

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