Alaska Democrat Mary Peltola could oust Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK). The state’s obnoxious voting rules, such as the top-four primary, ranked-choice voting, and the $100 filing fee to add your name to the statewide ballot, might have a lot to do with it, as there’s another ‘Dan Sullivan’ who’s running and made it to the next round. Pod person Sullivan claims he’s serious about running, though he’s barely campaigned, has only voted for Democrats, and had a Democrat operative help file his paperwork. 

In 2022, he won the special election to succeed the late Rep. Don Young, where it was reportedly hell on Earth to work for her, with allegations of abuse and volatility that would drive anyone to set themselves on fire. From calling staffers ‘retards’ and ‘faggots’ to shoving aides and assigning numerous tedious tasks, such as feeding her daughter’s chameleon, Meatball, and becoming a wicked witch at a moment’s notice, the stress reportedly drove staffers to lose weight and seek mental health treatment. 

Sure, some of it is that the kiddos today are soft, but some of it is off the rails, including trashing core Democrat Party constituencies — this woman bashed Planned Parenthood. Oh, and saying she hoped a woman would die from a botched abortion is all sorts of sick. That’s one group with a forever shield of protection within the party. The New York Times shed some light on this and provided more clarity on the massive shakeup before the August primary (via NYT):

Ms. Peltola, an Alaska Native who grew up fishing for salmon on the Kuskokwim River, was well-known and well-liked statewide, even by Republicans. Her party hailed her as one of its strongest prospects for ousting a Republican incumbent and winning control of the Senate.

But behind the scenes, her political operation has been marked by tumult, a pattern that stretches back to her time in Congress. Former aides describe angry and profane outbursts, sometimes directed at aides and sometimes expressed about others who had displeased her. In one instance, she shoved an aide, according to a former staff member who was present and two others who were told about it at the time. Another conflict led to a surprising staff shake-up on the eve of the primary election last month.

Four former staff members said they directly heard her use the word “faggot” over the years, in some cases about her own staff members, an allegation the campaign denied. She also used the word “retarded,” according to former aides and text messages viewed by The New York Times.

[…]

One of the more notable incidents described by former aides occurred in Ms. Peltola’s congressional office in February 2024. Frustrated that she couldn’t find a memo for a meeting, Ms. Peltola shoved a male employee in the chest with one hand, causing him to stumble backward, according to a person who was there and two others who heard about the incident soon after, as well as text messages sent at the time. The aide departed Ms. Peltola’s team soon after.

[…]

Ms. Peltola also disparaged Planned Parenthood, particularly one of its regional board members. Running for re-election to the House in 2024, Ms. Peltola was frustrated about the organization’s scrutiny of her deliberations over how to vote on a defense bill that included anti-abortion policies.

“I hope Planned Parenthood knows that if we don’t win it’s more their loss than ours. FUCK THOSE BITCHES,” she later wrote in a text message to her staff in January 2024 that was viewed by The Times.

[…]

Since that first congressional victory, her staff has made efforts to carefully manage Ms. Peltola’s moods. Former aides recalled that she could blow up without warning over seemingly minor issues, such as a staff member’s improper dress for cold weather, or a social media post issued by her campaign or congressional office that she didn’t like.

Sometimes she jumped up and down and stomped her feet, three of these former aides said. Two of the aides described one instance, in 2024, when Ms. Peltola was so frustrated that she swept stacks of papers on her desk into the air in a way that the two people independently likened to a scene from the political satire “Veep.”

The campaign disputed the description, but said she had shuffled papers off her desk in frustration.

[…]

Despite the environment [2026 midterms], Ms. Peltola’s campaign has performed well this year. She has raked in millions of dollars from donors and came in first in the state’s open primary on Aug. 18, putting Alaska on a short list of states likely to decide control of the Senate.

But low morale has plagued the campaign, with staff members complaining that Ms. Peltola’s behavior had left them anxious and exhausted, according to text messages viewed by The Times.

The big blowup came in August, on the heels of what aides initially thought was a minor complaint from Ms. Peltola about their lack of large campaign signs. “BIG SIGNS NEED TO BE SENT TO SOUTHEAST,” she wrote to aides in texts viewed by The Times. “OUR SIGN GAME IS FUCKED.”

Ms. Peltola eventually became so frustrated with her staff that she called a senior leader at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the campaign arm of Senate Democrats. They agreed to bring in a new consultant, Brad Elkins, who quickly flew to Anchorage, according to three people familiar with the outreach.

Mr. Elkins met with the staff, and some told him about Ms. Peltola’s behavior. Some said they intended to quit, according to three people familiar with the conversations as well as text messages viewed by The Times.

In at least one meeting, Mr. Elkins was conciliatory, urging staff members to consider staying and suggesting that he could serve as an intermediary to improve morale, one person said.

But soon after, several longtime aides began hearing from the campaign’s law firm, the Elias Law Group. Ms. Peltola would be moving in a different direction, the firm relayed, and the aides were being terminated or reassigned, according to correspondence viewed by The Times.

Some of those people were Peltola’s campaign manager, who was fired while her chief of staff was demoted. She had denied using the word ‘faggot,’ though that doesn’t mean much, as to who in this party would admit to saying it. The paper-throwing was an aggressive reorganization, and she didn’t shove an aide, but bumped into him as if she was unfocused or something.

I’d rather chug bleach than work under these conditions: feeding the chameleon? I would’ve chucked that thing in the garbage disposal. 

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What?! 

Who said that?

UPDATE: Peltola campaign responds.

Mary suddenly and tragically lost both her mother and her husband in the span of a few months in 2023. At the time of their passing, Mary was parenting kids through their own grief, serving full-time in the U.S. House of Representatives thousands of miles from home, and running a competitive re-election campaign – all while shouldering the enormous burden of grief. Like any person who has gone through multiple personal tragedies in the span of a few months, Mary sometimes struggled to deal with her grief. But she treats her staff with respect and care, and she maintains close positive relationships with her staff spanning her nearly 30 years in public service. Exaggerating and outright lying about moments from the hardest period of her life, and falsely presenting them as a pattern of behavior, is wrong.”