Alaska Senate Candidate Peltola Hurt in Car Crash on Way to Native Banquet
Her campaign says Mary Peltola and her family suffered minor injuries when another driver hit their vehicle, forcing her to reschedule events in a race already tangled in a Justice Department fight.
Mary Peltola, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Alaska, and her family were injured Sunday when another driver struck their vehicle, her campaign said.
The campaign said the family was on its way to the Alaska Federation of Natives Annual Banquet when the crash happened. It described the injuries as minor but said everyone needed medical attention. Campaign manager Cheryl Bruce said the family was "in good spirits."
Peltola is taking time to recover on medical advice, the campaign said. Her events for Sunday and Monday will be rescheduled in the coming days, and the accident also delayed the start of what the campaign is calling her "Alaska Always Tour."
The accident hits a candidate at a busy moment. Peltola, 53, is challenging Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan in a race that has drawn national attention with the midterm elections days away. If she wins, she would be the first Democrat elected to the Senate from Alaska since 2008. She earlier became the first Democrat in 50 years to represent the state in the U.S. House.
Peltola finished first in the August top-four primary, which sends the leading candidates to a ranked-choice general election. She will face Sullivan and two other candidates on the November ballot.
The race has also become a legal and political flashpoint. In recent days, President Trump directed the Justice Department to sue to block certification of the Alaska Senate result, citing the fact that two candidates on the ballot share the surname Sullivan. Attorney General Todd Blanche defended the move in television interviews over the weekend. Planck Standard has reported on those developments separately.
For now, the focus is on Peltola's recovery. The Alaska Federation of Natives banquet is a marquee event for candidates seeking support among Alaska Native voters, who make up a significant share of the state's electorate, and her absence there leaves a gap in a schedule that was meant to build momentum into the final stretch.
Her campaign said it would announce new dates for the postponed events once she has been cleared to resume travel.
The crash adds uncertainty to a contest already defined by its unusual rules, a ranked-choice ballot, a crowded field and a federal lawsuit. How quickly Peltola returns to the trail may shape the last week of one of the more closely watched Senate races in the country.
Peltola has built her political identity on retail campaigning, and the "Alaska Always Tour" was designed to take her to communities across a state where travel is difficult and distances are vast. Missing several days of that schedule so close to Election Day costs her face time that Alaska candidates traditionally treat as essential, though her campaign says the family expects a full recovery.
