By SUZANNE DOWNING
June 30, 2026 – Mary Peltola is not going to get the glide path to the US Senate that her handlers thought she would get when they placed Decoy Dan Sullivan on the ballot to drain votes from the sitting US Senator Dan Sullivan.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee has launched a new strategy to take on Democrat Peltola, releasing a television-style digital ad and a companion website showing how the former Alaska congresswoman puts her own interests ahead of those of Alaskans.
The campaign, unveiled Tuesday, centers on a new microsite, AlaskaLast.com, which compiles Peltola’s record on energy, spending, campaign finances, and social issues. The site accompanies a 30-second advertisement titled “Mary First, Alaska Last,” which argues that Peltola’s public image as a moderate Alaskan does not match her record in Congress or her activities since leaving office.
The ad opens by referencing Peltola’s longtime campaign message of putting “Alaska first” before pivoting to the central facts of her record.
“But her real record?” the narrator asks. “Always putting Alaska last.”
The commercial points to the truth of Peltola’s legislative record: She did not have a single bill signed into law during her two years representing Alaska’s lone congressional district.
It’s noteworthy because her predecessor Congressman Nick Begich has had more bills passed and signed into law than any freshman in congressional history during his 18 months in office.
The NRSC ad shifts to her post-congressional career, criticizing Peltola for accepting a position with a Washington, DC lobbying firm after losing her House seat in 2024. It reveals how she was using campaign accounts as a “personal slush fund,” and paid herself a salary from campaign funds while spending thousands of dollars on travel and luxury hotel stays around the Lower 48.
The advertisement concludes with the line: “For Mary Peltola, it’s always Mary first, Alaska last.”
The new microsite expands on those themes by highlighting Peltola’s voting record, campaign expenditures, lobbying work, and positions on major policy issues.
“From letting Lower 48 Democrats lock down Alaska energy to supporting men in women’s sports and using her campaigns as a personal slush fund, Mary Peltola is an ineffective radical leftist who puts Alaskans last and herself first,” said NRSC Regional Press Secretary Nick Puglia.
The NRSC has also repeatedly criticized Peltola for voting with Democrats on energy and environmental issues affecting Alaska, as well as opposing legislation that would prohibit biological males from competing in women’s and girls’ sports.
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Peltola served in Congress from September 2022 until January 2025 after winning a special election following the death of Congressman Don Young. That was the year Sarah Palin split the Republican vote and ushered in a Democrat. Peltola then lost her bid for reelection in 2024 to Republican Congressman Begich, and is now, at the behest of Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, attempting a political comeback by challenging incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan in the 2026 election.
With Alaska expected to be one of the nation’s most closely watched Senate races, not only because Peltola is their hope for flipping the Senate, but because Democrats placed a Peltola-supporting man named Dan Sullivan on the ballot, having him register as a Republican in order to confuse voters. Schumer, Decoy Dan, and Mary Peltola have worked up a scheme to help Peltola improve her chances.
While the NRSC was part of the lawsuit trying to prevent that scam from occurring, the NRSC’s new advertising campaign signals Republicans intend to make Peltola’s congressional record, post-congressional employment, and campaign finances a central theme of the race.
3 thoughts on “Mary First, Alaska Last: New ad and website puncture Peltola’s carefully crafted image”
I’m waiting for someone to call Mary out for her misleading advertisement about the cost of fuel, groceries, and ammo in rural Alaska.
How about addressing the question of whether or not governments are (or should be) instituted among men to regulate the prices of private goods such as fuel, groceries, and ammo…
Now the GOP is thinking
If its hardball the Democrats want to play then play hard ball ; the democrats want to fight dirty then fight dirty
Republican voters and members are going to have to toughen up when they see the dirty campaigns.
The Democrats slogan “when they are down, kick them”