Candidates for Alaska’s only seat in the U.S. House of Representatives make their case for your vote during Thursday’s Debate for the State.
Tune in at 7 p.m. for a live debate between incumbent Democrat Rep. Mary Peltola and Republican challenger Nick Begich ahead of the Nov. 5 election. You can also watch live on KTOO 360TV or listen live on the radio.
Debate for the State is presented in partnership between Alaska Public Media, Alaska’s News Source and KTOO.
Democratic Congresswoman Mary Peltola is running an attack ad on her Republican opponent, disparaging how he made his personal wealth.
“Nick Begich only looks out for himself,” her campaign ad begins, over ominous music. “First, he hired workers in India instead of Alaska to make himself rich. Now we learn he cashed in with an online company that pushed phony medical devices to seniors.”
With the campaign ad, Peltola breaks with the Alaska-nice campaign tradition she set in 2022. She’s throwing shade on the brightest feature of Begich’s personal history as he sells himself to Alaska voters: That he’s a brilliant and successful businessman. And the Alaska Democratic Party is doubling down with a new mailer accusing Begich of “scamming seniors with fake medical devices.”
Both the Peltola and Begich campaigns rejected interview requests to discuss the claim. But in an email, the Peltola campaign said the allegedly “phony medical devices” the ad refers to were sold on EarthPulse.com, a business started by the candidate’s dad in the late 1990s, primarily to sell Nick Begich Sr.’s writings about mind control and the alleged powers of a University of Alaska Fairbanks antenna array known as HAARP.
EarthPulse.com also used to sell several electronic products, such the “Alpha-Trainer biofeedback anti-tension device” headset and the handheld “Pointer-Plus.” The website said the Pointer-Plus could locate acupuncture points and stimulate them. “Never miss the point!,” the web copy said. “A complete clinic in your hands.” It sold for $149.
The Pointer-Plus is still for sale on other websites and some models have good reviews on Amazon.com. The problem, the Peltola campaign said, is in the claim the Begich-owned business made for the product.
“Earthpulse advertised Pointer-Plus as basically being 100% accurate and the sole acupuncture tool needed,” the campaign said in an email. “An academic study found it was NOT reliable and should NOT be used by itself.”
Nick Begich Sr. said it was a good product and that his website made no false claims.
“It is 100% accurate at locating points,” he said, when asked about one of the products the Peltola campaign takes issue with, “unless you have some tissue disturbance, like a scar that would interfere with the normal flow of energy across the surface of the skin.”
The elder Begich said Peltola’s ad alleging the company “pushed phony medical devices to seniors” is wrong, because they weren’t medical devices. And, he said, they weren’t pushed on seniors.
“Never,” he said. “We’ve never marketed anything for any specific group, seniors or otherwise.”
He estimates that his company sold fewer than 500 devices over 20 years.
The EarthPulse website recently went offline. Nick Sr. said he’s done with retail. Anyway, he said, his son was just a passive investor.
The candidate’s financial disclosures show he owns a 17% stake of EarthPulse Press that’s worth between $1 million and $5 million. In the latest filing, Begich reports earning less than $50,000 a year from EarthPulse. That’s a drop from the two prior years, when he reported that his stake earned him more than $50,000 a year.
It’s through a different company Begich III owns that he created jobs in India.
That one is FarShore Partners, a software development company he founded. When Nick Begich III first ran for Congress two years ago, FarShore was central to the image he projected as a successful tech entrepreneur, and he never hid that many or most of its workers were overseas.
This year, it’s hard to find any mention of Begich on the FarShore website. The Peltola campaign isn’t the only one making an issue of FarShore’s non-Alaska focus.
“How many Alaska jobs did businessman Nick Begich create? Seems almost none,” an ad from a pro-Peltola group called Vote Alaska before Party says. “Instead, seems almost 90% of Begich’s employees are in India. Which is nice — for India. While doing nothing for Alaska.”
Anchorage consultant Jim Lottsfeldt, who leads Vote Alaska Before Party, said the geography of Begich’s job creation matters.
“It shows you a little bit where his head’s at,” Lottsfeldt said. “He doesn’t see the future of Alaska in business. He sees it as a place where he doesn’t have to pay taxes, and he’s got a famous last name, and he can get into politics, but he’s not investing in Alaska.”
Actually, Begich’s candidate disclosure form shows he has invested in several Alaska businesses.
“Nick has created hundreds of jobs in Alaska,” a Begich campaign spokeswoman said by text message.
She cited his 15% stake in Stuaqpak Inc., through which he’s the partial owner of grocery store in Utqiagvik. That’s one of several investments Begich has made in partnership with his well-known uncle, former U.S. Sen. Mark Begich. Mark and Nick Begich III also teamed up to form an Anchorage-based consulting firm, Begich Capital Partners.
Moderate candidates have a large fundraising advantage in state House and Senate races key to control of the Alaska Legislature, according to a new round of campaign finance data reported a month ahead of Election Day.
“Moderate to progressive people have figured out fundraising better than their Republican counterparts,” political consultant Jim Lottsfeldt, who has worked with centrist and left-leaning candidates, said in an interview.
Democrats, independents and Republicans open to a bipartisan caucus have raised a combined total of more than $2.5 million, according to an analysis of campaign finance data. Republicans who would only join Republican-led coalitions have raised about half that.
Moderate and left-leaning candidates have an especially large advantage in Anchorage-area races. Midtown Rep. Andy Josephson, a Democrat, is outraising Republican challenger Heather Gottshall by a more than four-to-one margin with nearly $140,000 in contributions. Democratic Sen. Matt Claman of West Anchorage has raised $190,000 to Republican Liz Vazquez’s roughly $11,000. Rep. Craig Johnson of South Anchorage, a senior member of the conservative Republican House majority, has raised $28,000, roughly half the funding of his more moderate Republican challenger, former Rep. Chuck Kopp.
In northeast Anchorage, Democrat Ted Eischeid has raised more than four times the total of Republican incumbent Rep. Stanley Wright. Eischeid chalked his lead up to the strength of his message.
“I think my three priorities of education, public safety and infrastructure really resonates with donors,” he said. Wright did not respond to an interview request.
In another closely watched Senate race, Kenai Peninsula Sen. Jesse Bjorkman, R-Nikiski, has raised $131,000, roughly twice as much as challenger Rep. Ben Carpenter, R-Nikiski, who is challenging him from the right. Savannah Fletcher, an independent candidate for the open Senate District R seat covering much of the Interior, has raised $120,000; Rep. Mike Cronk, R-Tok, the conservative candidate for the seat currently occupied by outgoing Sen. Click Bishop, R-Fairbanks, has raised $95,000.
But in another Fairbanks race, the dynamic is reversed: a Republican challenger is outraising a Democratic incumbent in the race for a state Senate seat. Leslie Hajdukovich, a former staffer for U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, challenging Sen. Scott Kawasaki, D-Fairbanks, a member of the current 17-member bipartisan majority, has raised more than $196,000.
In an interview, Hajdukovich cast herself as more moderate than many Republican candidates. She said she would have voted to overturn Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s veto of a bipartisan education bill and said she’d be open to joining the Senate’s bipartisan coalition, which currently features nine Democrats and eight Republicans.
“I am a Republican, and I would hope for a Republican majority, but either way, the leadership in the Senate is going to be bipartisan the way the makeup is,” she said. “I would not join a Democrat-led coalition, but I would be open to a Republican-led coalition.” She said she saw the current Senate majority as a “slight[ly] Republican-led coalition.”
However, she opposes a return to a pension plan for state employees and told the Alaska Beacon she supports a bill proposed by Republicans last session that would ban transgender girls from girls’ sports. She said she is “personally pro-life.”
Hajdukovich has some notable major donors, including the CEO of Hilcorp, Luke Saugier, who donated more than $1,500 and Diane Bundrant, the wife of the late co-founder and majority owner of Trident Seafoods, who chipped in $2,500. Her largest single contribution, $4,435, comes from the Capital City Republicans in Juneau.
Just over half of Hajdukovich’s nearly 600 contributors list a Fairbanks address, according to campaign finance records, and 8% of her contributions come from out of state. Her average donation so far has been $336.14. Hajdukovich has spent nearly $160,000 as of this week.
Kawasaki, meanwhile, has raised roughly $166,000 and spent just $33,000, according to campaign finance records.
Like many Democrats and independents who support a return to a defined benefit retirement plan for state employees, Kawasaki has strong support from organized labor groups, including the AFL-CIO, the Alaska State Employees Association, the National Education Association and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.
“We need to be competitive to keep teachers here in Alaska,” he said. “There is a high cost of living, and one of the ways that we can keep teachers is with a good public pension system like we used to have.”
Roughly a third of his contributions come from Fairbanks addresses, and about half are from donors with Anchorage addresses, including $11,000 from attorney Robin Brena and $7,000 from relatively new political contributor Justin Weaver. Brena has spent more than $80,000 on campaigns this cycle, and Weaver has contributed more than $100,000 to Democrats and moderate candidates.
Candidates for state House and Senate have raked in some $4.5 million in total contributions. But that amount is dwarfed by the war chests amassed by some independent expenditure groups: No On 2, opposing the repeal of ranked choice voting and open primaries, has raised $12.3 million and spent nearly $8 million. Yes On 2, supporting the repeal, has raised just over $100,000 as of late September. Two groups supporting Ballot Measure 1, which would increase the minimum wage from $11.73 to $15 an hour by 2027 and provide workers with sick leave, have raised $3.8 million.
Left-leaning and centrist independent expenditure groups also appear to have an edge in spending. Putting Alaskans First Committee, funded largely by union members, has spent more than $500,000 supporting left-leaning and moderate Republican legislative candidates. The American Leadership Committee, funded by the party-affiliated Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, has outlaid nearly $140,000 supporting Democratic candidates. Americans for Prosperity has spent nearly $160,000 in support of conservative candidates, and Families of the Last Frontier, a Republican Party-affiliated group, has spent more than $326,000.
Matt Shuckerow, a political consultant who has worked extensively with conservative candidates, said voters should look closely at who donates to campaigns and consider their motives. But at the same time, he noted, spending does not always translate into electoral success.
“Fundraising is just one measure of the success of a campaign. Ultimately, it’s how you spend those resources,” he said.
A two-hour debate on Alaska fisheries issues turned contentious in its final moments as Republican U.S. House candidate Nick Begich criticized incumbent Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola over an ad stating that a Begich victory would mean “our fish are gone.”
The exchange was the lone heated issue between the two frontrunners in Alaska’s U.S. House election, which will decide one of only a few tossup races in the 435-seat House of Representatives. With the House closely divided between Republicans and Democrats, the winner of Alaska’s race is likely to help decide control of the House overall.
Tuesday’s debate was largely cordial and included an at-times-technical discussion of fisheries policy.
Alaska supplies 60% of America’s wild-caught seafood, and the maritime industry — including fishing, processing and servicing fishing boats — is the state’s No. 1 private-sector employer.
Since her inaugural run for Congress in 2022, Peltola has advertised herself as a “pro-fish” candidate, a line that occasionally draws laughs in the Lower 48, she said.
“There’s nothing funny about fish,” she said. “This is our livelihood. This is the way we feed our families, and this is our identity, and we need to make sure that we’re preserving this, whether it’s the bycatch issue or the myriad of other issues that are presenting challenges to our fisheries today.”
Begich said fishing is absolutely critical to the state’s economy and its cultural makeup.
“Fish is not a Democrat or Republican issue. This is one of a few issues, I would say at the moment, that we should be able to work on in a bipartisan fashion,” he said.
Peltola said that during her time in the House, she helped create a bipartisan “fish caucus” to advance fisheries legislation, a fact that Begich countered later by saying that Peltola hasn’t been able to get support from that caucus for her own fisheries bills.
“We need to have a fish caucus that is bipartisan, and I think that’s important. I think it’s also important that we be honest in politics. And you know, I’m seeing ads right now from, again, one of my opponents up here on stage that says, ‘If you elect Nick Begich, there’ll be no more fish,’” Begich said.
“Well, that is ridiculous, and that is shameful, and for her to maybe run ads like that that she approved from her campaign, lying to the people of Alaska, that’s wrong,” he said.
The ad, as of the end of the debate, was on Peltola’s campaign website, and Begich said he wanted to bring it up because he was frustrated and he needed to bring it up at the fisheries debate.
“This is the kind of thing that gets thrown around in a campaign, and I understand there’s ads that come from super PACs, but when it’s coming directly from the campaign, it really needs to be truthful and honest,” he said. “And it’s frustrating to me when people are putting things out suggesting that somehow Alaska wouldn’t have fish because I get elected, that’s absolutely wrong, and everyone knows that and she knows that.”
Peltola wasn’t allowed an immediate rebuttal but later said, “I came here tonight excited to talk about fish and fishermen and fishing families and the fishing industry. And I think it’s pathetic that it’s devolved a bit into petty backbiting. I am not interested in that. I don’t know what attack ad is being referred to. I know nothing of this. That was not my ad.”
Peltola went on, saying of advertising criticizing her, “There are a lot of ads out there. I know I’ve had $7 million in attack ads over the last few weeks, and it’s time that I stand up for myself and stand up for Alaskans and say enough is enough. I’m not here to do any petty bickering. I’m here to talk about fishing, fishermen and fishing families and the fishing industry.”
That drew the night’s only round of applause from the audience.
Tuesday night’s debate was just the second time that Peltola and Begich have shared the stage since the August primary election, and it may be the only time before Election Day that they also share a venue with John Wayne Howe, the Alaskan Independence Party candidate in Alaska’s top-four general election.
Under Alaska’s election system, the four highest vote-getters in the August primary election, regardless of party, advance to the general election.
“I am the third-party candidate in here; some would call it the third wheel,” he told the crowd at Kodiak’s Gerald C. Wilson Auditorium.
Two other debates are scheduled this week — one in Fairbanks and one broadcast statewide from Anchorage — but Howe was not invited to either.
The fourth candidate in the November election is Democratic candidate Eric Hafner, a non-Alaskan who is imprisoned in New York state and unable to attend debates.
Howe, a machinist from the Fairbanks area, spoke frankly to the Kodiak crowd and acknowledged his unfamiliarity with commercial fishing. At times, he intentionally drew laughs — when the candidates were asked to hold up “yes” or “no” signs stating whether they supported fish farming in Alaska, Howe made a show of looking at Begich’s “no” sign before joining Peltola and Begich in a “no” of his own.
When asked how Congress should deal with climate change’s effects on Alaska fisheries, Peltola discussed her support for renewable energy and Begich talked about programs to deal with eroding shorelines. Howe said it should be dealt with “on a personal level,” and that rising carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere may not be bad because plants and plankton need carbon dioxide to live.
“We need more in the atmosphere,” he said.
Several times Tuesday night, Peltola emphasized her willingness to listen to all sides of an issue and said that reaching consensus on fisheries issues is important.
Begich spoke more aggressively, reminding the audience that Alaska has just one member of Congress.
“When you think about that one member, who do you want down there fighting for you? Do you want somebody who’s going to be tough, who’s going to get involved in the discussions, who’s going to encounter people in the hallway, grab them by the neck, like Don Young did? He was tough, and he was there for 49 years. We need that toughness again.”
Begich and Peltola both said they support legislation that would accelerate relief payments during disastrously low fish harvests and emphasized that the farm bill under consideration in Congress should provide more equitable treatment for Alaska seafood when compared to agricultural products that come from land.
Howe said he also supports the relief legislation — something he wasn’t familiar with until recently — but thinks payments should come in silver or gold, rather than American dollars, which he predicted would collapse in value.
Begich and Peltola each advocated measures to reduce bycatch, the unwanted fish caught while fishers target another species.
The state of Alaska has repeatedly closed or limited subsistence and sport salmon fisheries due to low salmon returns, but commercial fishing trawlers are permitted to catch significant numbers of salmon as bycatch in federally regulated fisheries, an issue that has caused conflict between fishing communities. In September, two Kodiak trawlers accidentally caught 2,000 king salmon, hitting a federally mandated limit and closing a valuable groundfish season.
Peltola and Begich each said they support additional research and technology development to limit bycatch. While bycatch has become a target for criticism in the state, scientific research has not yet settled on it as a primary cause of Alaska’s low salmon returns.
Peltola said she would support the creation of a reserved seat on the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council — which regulates federal fisheries offshore — for a member of an Indigenous tribe. Begich and Howe said they oppose the idea.
Begich and Peltola differ on the use of foreign workers in Alaska’s fishing industry. Seafood processors frequently bring in seasonal labor under the H-1B visa program, and Peltola said she supports continuing the practice. Begich opposes it.
“There’s a 4% unemployment rate in Alaska. I want to make sure that we’re prioritizing Alaskans who want to work first, before we start prioritizing people from outside of our nation to come in and take those jobs,” he said.
In 2022’s four-way U.S. House race, Peltola won just under 50% of the vote within Kodiak city and its suburbs. Begich was third in the city, behind fellow Republican candidate Sarah Palin.
On Tuesday night, attendees appeared to favor Peltola marginally over Begich. During an intermission, a group of high school students rushed to take selfies with Peltola.
“She seems like a really nice person, and with her being the only woman up there, it’s really nice to see a female up there to represent,” said Jhade Luna, one of the students.
As attendees left the auditorium, many said they felt Peltola and Begich were evenly matched, with Howe trailing.
“They seemed actually informed on what the fisheries here entail and the struggles that fishermen throughout the state are facing currently and in the future,” said Clifton Ivanoff, a fisherman.
“I think Begich answered some of the early questions maybe a little bit better than Peltola, but I think she just showed she’s got more knowledge of fisheries toward the end,” said Ryan Burt. “And John Wayne Howe is something else.”
Rep. Mary Peltola, D-Alaska, and her leading challenger, Republican U.S. House candidate Nick Begich, will appear on stage at three election forums and debates this week.
Alaskan Independence Party candidate John Wayne Howe will also participate in one of the forums. Eric Hafner, the imprisoned out-of-state Democrat who is also on the U.S. House ballot, will not be present at any of the events.
Because the Alaska Federation of Natives canceled its U.S. House forum, Alaska’s two main U.S. House candidates are scheduled to participate in only five face-to-face meetings during the general election. One has already taken place.
At 7 p.m. Tuesday, Begich, Howe and Peltola are scheduled to participate in the Kodiak Chamber of Commerce’s fisheries debate. The debate, held at Kodiak’s Gerald C. Wilson Auditorium, is a regular feature of Alaska’s electoral calendar.
The debate will be streamed online and broadcast over the radio by KMXT-FM.
Fishing is a particularly high-profile topic this year, with Interior Alaska salmon runs continuing to suffer from an ongoing crisis, trawl fisheries under fire for bycatch issues, and the sustainability of the fishing industry in question.
Two days later, the Alaska Chamber will host Peltola and Begich in Fairbanks for a noon Thursday forum focused on economic issues. Organizers said it will not be broadcast.
Hours later, in Anchorage, Peltola and Begich will appear in the “Debate for the State,” a regular event hosted by KTOO, KTUU-TV and Alaska Public Media. The debate will air live on statewide TV and radio starting at 7 p.m.
Lori Townsend, the chief editor of Alaska Public Media, and Rebecca Palsha, senior anchor for KTUU-TV, Alaska’s News Source, will moderate the hourlong debate.
In addition to economic questions, the candidates will share their platforms on reproductive issues, immigration, political divisions and other social topics.
Townsend said Howe will not participate in the event; organizers restricted participation to candidates who received at least 5% of the vote in the August primary election.
Debate for the State will air live Thursday at 7 p.m. on KTOO 104.3 FM and KAUK 91.7 FM and on KTOO 360TV and ktoo.org.
Alex Rosputko, a crypto trader in Eagle River and a registered Republican, told us he longs for what he remembers of the politics of the late ‘80s and ‘90s.
“There was always some position that both parties agreed to and could work towards. But now, it just seems so polarized,” he said. “There is very little dialogue going on. Everybody just finds faults with everybody else, and nobody finds a compromise, a solution that we both could work with.”
Rosputko was one of dozens of Alaskans we’ve spoken with this election cycle about some of the most important issues facing the state and their communities. Many, like Rosputko, told us they wanted politicians to work together across the aisle.
Alaska politicians have a long history of working across party lines, even before open primaries and ranked choice voting came on the scene in 2022. Today, a bipartisan centrist coalition representing 85% of the Alaska Senate controls the upper chamber. Even the conservative Republican-led House majority includes two Democrats and an independent representing districts off the road system, and the House minority caucus largely composed of Democrats and independents includes a moderate Republican.
Though the Senate’s bipartisan majority could shrink, it’s likely to survive the November election, but control of the lower chamber is up for grabs.
As it happens, there is a race in Eagle River where bipartisanship is a big issue: the race for the Eagle River state Senate seat currently held by Republican Kelly Merrick.
Republican Jared Goecker is challenging Merrick from the right, and he’s made Merrick’s decision to join the Senate’s bipartisan coalition of nine Democrats and eight Republicans a key issue in the race.
Merrick has defended her record. She says she’s a conservative Republican who joined the majority in order to push the centrist coalition to the right while bringing home results for her constituents in Eagle River. Goecker, on the other hand, says she betrayed the district’s conservative voters by crossing the aisle. Goecker ran about even with Merrick in the August primary, though the ballot included two other conservative Republicans opposed to the current Senate coalition who have since dropped out of the race.
So we asked Rosputko: What do you think about Kelly Merrick?
“She’s a party jumper,” he told us. “She ran one day as a staunch conservative, and she’s nothing like it.”
Though plenty of the Eagle River voters we spoke with favored Merrick, Rosputko was certainly not alone in his opinion.
So maybe bipartisanship sounds a bit better in theory than in practice — or maybe it depends more on how the candidate presents themselves to voters.
“I just think if you could come forward with it, be open about your position from the very beginning. … I just felt very deceived, [I’ll] put it that way,” Rosputko said.
In Ninilchik, pizza shop owner and registered independent Ross Cameron told us he was excited to vote for Congresswoman Mary Peltola. She’s made no secret of her tendency to cross the aisle and vote against her Democratic colleagues on a number of occasions — and that’s a big part of what Cameron likes.
“She understands the Republican side, she understands the Democratic side, and is willing to work with both,” he said. “And she’s honest.”
Peltola and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, well-known for breaking with her Republican colleagues, should be a model for the rest of the country, Cameron said.
It’s a similar story for Karen Emmel of Anchorage. She was a longtime Republican, “but they’ve been disappointing me lately,” she said. She’s now a registered Democrat.
Like Cameron, she said she plans to vote for Mary Peltola in part because of her willingness to cross the aisle.
“I’ve always liked Mary because I think that she votes for the issues, and she votes for what’s good for the state,” she said.
In Wasilla, environmental scientist and registered independent Cara Hesselbach told us she hadn’t made a decision in the U.S. House race, but she was happy to tell us about how she’s thinking about who to vote for this November.
She said she wants someone with a little ideological flexibility.
“I almost would want a candidate to be more open,” Hesselbach said. “More interested in what the population wants, rather than coming in swinging with, like, a hard, ‘This is my platform, take it or leave it’ kind of perspective.”
But for a lot of voters — Hesselbach included — even when bipartisanship is a priority, it can be hard to articulate exactly what you want.
“It’s tough,” she said. “Sometimes, you don’t know until you hear it.”
This story is part of a project we’re calling “The View From Here,” a collaboration between Alaska Public Media and America Amplified, putting voters at the center of our election coverage. To learn more about it, or to submit your own thoughts for a future story, visit alaskapublic.org/theviewfromhere.
