Democratic Senate nominee Mary Peltola, a former Alaska congresswoman, missed close to one-fifth of recorded votes during her years in the Alaska House of Representatives and more than one-third of Bethel City Council meetings while serving locally, according to public records.
Legislative records show Peltola was absent for 794 of 4,265 state House votes across five terms between 1999 and 2009, an absence rate of 18.6%. City records also show she missed 22 of 60 Bethel City Council meetings from 2011 to 2013, or 36.67%.
The attendance figures are drawing renewed scrutiny as Peltola moves into Alaska’s four-candidate general election, a high-profile Senate contest that could play a role in determining which party controls the US Senate.
“Alaskans deserve an all-the-time workhorse like Dan Sullivan, not someone like Peltola who knifes Alaskans in the back when she even bothers to show up,” Republican National Committee spokesperson Nick Poche said in a statement provided to Fox News Digital.
Peltola’s largest cluster of missed state House votes came during the 23rd Legislature, from 2003 to 2004, when she missed 334 of 1,019 votes. Bethel records also show she was absent from nine of 22 council meetings in 2013 and 11 of 32 meetings in 2012.
Conservative critics have similarly highlighted Peltola’s attendance record in Congress. From 2022 to 2024, she missed 235 of 1,370 roll-call votes, or 17.2%, according to data compiled by GovTrack.
Beyond attendance, opponents have criticized Peltola’s legislative record in Washington, noting that no bills or resolutions for which she was the primary sponsor became law during her congressional tenure. They have contrasted that with Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan, who has seen several measures signed into law.
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“She couldn’t even get a single bill signed into law,” the National Republican Senatorial Committee posted on X in January. “Now, she wants a promotion.”
In a statement to Fox News Digital, a Peltola campaign spokesperson defended the absences, saying Peltola, a mother of seven, took maternity leave after giving birth to three of her children while serving in the state House.
The spokesperson added that, excluding excused absences, Peltola missed only about 6% of votes and continued to advance bipartisan measures throughout her tenure.
“Three of Mary’s children were born during her time in the state legislature and she took maternity leave. That didn’t stop her from working hard for Alaskans, from passing bills to improve public safety in rural Alaska to increasing Alaska energy production,” the Peltola campaign said.
The campaign also said Peltola spent summers at a fishing camp and that some city council absences occurred during fishing months or because of other council priorities.
Turning to Sullivan’s attendance record, the spokesperson said he has missed a significant number of votes and committee hearings, calling his absences “an insult to Alaskans” and saying that Sullivan has been “slacking off” missing fisheries subcommittee hearings.
Peltola announced her Senate bid in January to represent Alaska and unseat Sullivan, a two-term senator backed by President Trump and also advanced to the general election in November. She finished ahead of Sullivan in Tuesday’s primary.
Alaska’s unique election system uses a nonpartisan top-four primary, in which candidates from all parties appear on the same ballot, followed by ranked-choice voting in the general election.
