Democratic candidate Mary Peltola, who is seeking to unseat Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan in Alaska’s Senate race, has faced sustained criticism over her attendance record in public office.
Seeking to bolster support for Sullivan in one of the nation’s most closely watched midterm contests, President Donald Trump repeatedly labeled Peltola “No Show Mary” and called her “a whack job.”
Sullivan has also focused heavily on the issue, portraying Peltola as inattentive to her responsibilities and claiming that she missed “20 percent” of the votes held during her time in office.
The Republican urged voters not to “give her a promotion” and criticized Peltola for not sponsoring a single bill that became law during her time in Congress.
Available records show that Peltola missed nearly one in five votes during her years in the Alaska House of Representatives and later during her time in Congress in Washington, DC.
Fox News reported that Peltola did not take part in more than 18 percent of Alaska House votes between 1999 and 2009. City records also show that she missed more than 36 percent of Bethel City Council meetings between 2011 and 2013.
During her congressional service from 2022 to 2024, Peltola missed more than 17 percent of the 1,370 roll-call votes for which she was eligible, according to GovTrack data.
Peltola’s team, however, accused Republicans—including Trump and Sullivan—of “shamefully twisting her family tragedy to score political points.”
Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan (right) has repeatedly criticized Democratic challenger Mary Peltola (left) over her record of missed votes and meetings in public office
President Donald Trump attacked Peltola at a recent Alaska midterm rally, calling her “No Show Mary”
Peltola missed roughly 20 percent of the votes for which she was eligible while serving in Congress between 2022 and 2024
Peltola’s spokesperson told Our News Outlet that she had to take time away from her duties following personal tragedies and while on maternity leave.
In 2023, Peltola lost two close family members within a few months of each other. The losses occurred during the same period in which she missed most of the congressional votes for which she was eligible.
Her mother, LizAnn Williams, died in May 2023. Less than four months later, Peltola’s husband, Eugene Peltola Jr., was killed in a plane crash in remote western Alaska.
A subsequent federal investigation found that the crash happened shortly after he took off from a remote hunting camp in a small Piper PA-18 Super Cub. The aircraft went down on a hillside covered by low bushes and shrubs.
One of the hunters accompanying him unbuckled his lap belt and covered him with blankets, but the nearest hospital was approximately 400 miles away. He died within two hours.
Two people who have known Peltola since high school and spoke with Our News Outlet described that period in her life as “devastating” and a “dark time.”
One of them, Andrei Jacobs, joined Peltola’s campaign during her first run for the Alaska State House of Representatives around 1996. He is now an Indigenous leader at the Alaska Venture Fund.
Jacobs described Peltola’s experience using the Yup’ik term “tugayik,” which refers to remaining in step with one’s environment and being mindful of the many layers surrounding a person—from the self and family to society and the universe.
He said those layers are reflected in Peltola’s circular campaign logo, adding that the second layer—family—was “very disrupted” by the two tragedies.
‘I don’t wish that to anyone,’ he said, adding that he experienced something similar when both his parents died while he was in college.
Jacobs shared his admiration for how Peltola handled the losses and claimed: ‘She’s dealing with adversity very well compared to others.
‘Her health wasn’t consistent but she rose up and she moved on.’
In a recent social media post on the third anniversary of Eugene’s passing, Peltola described him as ‘a devoted father, a loving husband and a leader so many in our community turned to without hesitation.’
She wrote: ‘The weight of that loss hasn’t lifted, not for our family and not for the countless others who loved him.’
During this period of grief, Peltola ‘had to return to Alaska for brief periods,’ also to take care of her family, causing her to miss votes in Congress between 2022 and 2024.
The Democratic hopeful tragically lost her husband, which her campaign explained as a main reason for her absence
Peltola lost both her mother and her husband over the span of a few months in 2023
Andrei Jacobs (second of left) has known Peltola (center) since high school. He joined her during her first campaign around 1996
‘The weight of that loss hasn’t lifted, not for our family and not for the countless others who loved him,’ Peltola wrote in a social media post on the third anniversary of her husband’s tragic death. Source: @MaryPeltola/Instagram
The race for Alaska’s Senate seat is tight as the Cook Political Report still ranks it as a toss-up.
Other polls have seen Peltola take a slight lead, sparking fears among Republicans that the once ruby-red state might turn blue in November.
The race has become so tense that Trump personally ordered the Justice Department to sue Alaska in an extraordinary bid to block certification of its Senate election results if Sullivan loses.
‘I’m the one that said do it,’ Trump told reporters Friday as he arrived in Florida for a campaign rally, confirming his role in the lawsuit filed by his administration late Thursday.
The lawsuit seeks to prevent Alaska from certifying the results of its November 3 Senate race under specific circumstances, arguing that voters could be confused by the presence of two candidates with nearly identical names.
Trump has accused Democrats of putting forward a rival named Dan S Sullivan Jr in an attempt to sway votes away from the sitting senator, Dan J Sullivan.
Our News Outlet contacted Sullivan’s campaign for comment.
