This fall, control of the House of Representatives will almost certainly hinge on a few swing seats. Democrats looking to take back the House will put what they see as vulnerable Republicans in their crosshairs (and thank you, Sarah Palin, for that metaphor) while Republicans looking to expand their current razor-thin majority will do the same.
One of the seats national Republicans have been eyeing well is Alaska’s at-large seat, currently held — thanks in no small part to ranked-choice voting — by Democrat Mary Peltola. Now, Ms. Peltola has given Republicans more ammunition in their campaign to return her to Bethel, as we learned from Must Read Alaska’s Suzanne Downing that she has thrown her hat in with “Voters of Tomorrow,” a left-wing advocacy group.
Mary Peltola of Alaska is among vulnerable Democratic candidates who have allied with Voters Tomorrow, which Influence Watch describes as a left-wing group that supports defunding the police.
“VoT claims that conventional law enforcement methods do not reduce crime rates and helps cut police department budgets in favor of funding other government programs that the group claims will reduce crime. The group advocates decriminalizing and regulating most drugs, such as alcohol or tobacco, and drugs. Advocates expunging criminals’ prior criminal records. Additionally, VoT calls for significantly reducing border security and immigration enforcement and granting US citizenship to currently illegal immigrants. Influence Watch says.
This could be a bad mistake by Ms. Peltola.
See Related: Battle for Great Land: Alaska Republicans Shoot for At-Large House Seat
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Alaska is still, of course, dealing with an unnecessarily complicated and confusing ranked-choice voting (RCV) system, but her alignment with this group should hang around her neck like an albatross for Alaska Republicans. Here are some of the policy positions advocated by this group:
Voters of Tomorrow has a particular focus on “justice” issues such as decriminalizing prostitution, dismantling “racist” institutions — including ending “racist profiling in education and policing” and “racist voting laws” — as well as calling for stricter gun control, and “Ending abusive practices by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection.”
It’s hard to imagine an Alaskan aligning themselves with any of this crap – especially if they want to be in office. Gun control in Alaska is a particularly bad position for an Alaskan poll; I like to point out, here in the valley, even the hippies have guns and know how to use them. Alaska is a constitutional-bearing, stand-your-ground, Second Amendment sanctuary state, and we like it that way.
Mary Peltola won the 2022 election in large part because she hitched her electoral wagon to Senator Lisa Murkowski’s re-election campaign. Senator Murkowski is not the darling of Alaskan conservatives, but he regularly gets some crossover votes from Anchorage and Juneau Democrats who accept the reality that they are unlikely to get a Democrat in the Senate. But Ms. Peltola doesn’t have the Murkowski campaign to help her this time. And Alaska Republicans need to take a good look at the positions of tomorrow’s voters and ask themselves why Mary Peltola chose to align herself with them.
Even with RCV — and repealing RCV will be on this year’s ballot, though the system will still be in place for the 2024 election — Republicans could send him home. It’s not hard; As candidate Nick Begich III said in 2022, “Rank the Reds.” It looks very likely that Ms. Peltola will face Begich and Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom this fall. If every Alaska Republican, Libertarian, and conservative-leaning Independent ranked Republican candidates #1 and #2, they could send Mary Peltola home.
Mary Peltola is not the best choice for Alaska. Even with RCV, there is an opportunity to send him back to Bethel
