One of the most serious allegations involves an incident that reportedly occurred inside Peltola’s congressional office in February 2024.
A former staff member who said they witnessed the confrontation told the Times that Peltola became frustrated while searching for a memo needed for an upcoming meeting and shoved a male aide in the chest with one hand. The aide allegedly stumbled backward.
The Times said two additional people were told about the incident at the time, while contemporaneous text messages also documented what had happened. The employee subsequently left the team.
Peltola’s campaign disputes that characterization. According to the report, her campaign said she did not shove the employee and instead accidentally bumped into him. The campaign attributed the incident to an emotionally difficult period, noting that it occurred on the first birthday of Peltola’s late husband following his death.
The allegations concerning Peltola’s language are also significant.
Four former staffers told the Times that they personally heard Peltola use the word “faggot,” with some saying the term was directed at members of her own staff. The campaign denied those allegations.
The Times also reported that former aides and text messages described Peltola using the word “retarded.” One message reviewed by the newspaper, reportedly sent this year after a commercial fisheries executive posted a photograph with Peltola, stated:
“F**k that retard,” followed by “Honestly. I nothing him.”
The campaign acknowledged that the language was inappropriate and said Peltola regretted using the word.
The phrase “nothing him” reportedly referred to Peltola’s habit of dismissing someone, a usage former staffers told the Times was borrowed from the television show “Scrubs.”
Another series of messages involved Planned Parenthood.
In January 2024, during Peltola’s campaign for reelection to Alaska’s lone House seat, she reportedly wrote:
“I hope Planned Parenthood knows that if we don’t win it’s more their loss than ours. F**K THOSE BITCHES,”
Later that year, the Times reported that Peltola appeared to refer to a woman associated with the local Planned Parenthood chapter when she wrote:
“I hope she dies of a botched abortion.”
Planned Parenthood’s political organization had previously endorsed Peltola, but it did not endorse her Senate campaign.
The report also described unusual demands allegedly placed on members of Peltola’s staff. Among them was an instruction that aides help feed live crickets to her family’s pet chameleon, Meatball.
Former employees described broader morale problems as well. Text messages reviewed by the Times allegedly showed some staffers becoming anxious or exhausted, while others reportedly cried or discussed leaving their jobs.
The campaign underwent a significant personnel shake-up shortly before Alaska’s August primary.
Peltola’s campaign dismissed Elisa Rios, a longtime adviser who had served as campaign manager, as well as a deputy campaign manager and two contractors. Anton McParland, Peltola’s former congressional chief of staff and a co-manager of the Senate campaign, was shifted into a consulting position.
The campaign characterized the moves as routine staffing changes made in preparation for the general election.
Two former aides, however, told the Times that the personnel changes came after one of Peltola’s alleged outbursts.
Peltola’s campaign strongly rejected the broader characterization of her workplace as abusive. A spokesman disputed several of the specific allegations while acknowledging that Peltola regretted certain language contained in messages.
The campaign has also pointed to the extraordinary personal circumstances Peltola experienced in 2023, when she lost both her husband and mother within months of one another. Her spokesman said she was simultaneously dealing with her own grief, parenting children through their grief, serving in Congress and campaigning for reelection. The campaign said portraying isolated moments from that period as a broader pattern was unfair.
Not every former employee interviewed by the Times agreed with the negative characterization.
Paul Horner, who served as Peltola’s finance director in 2022, told the newspaper, “Mary Peltola is one of the finest human beings that I’ve ever worked for.”
Former special assistant Tyson Fick acknowledged that Peltola could be demanding and sometimes raised her voice, but said:
“I don’t think it was ever an abusive scenario.”
Peltola herself declined an interview with the Times.
The allegations nevertheless add a new dimension to a Senate contest that is already attracting national attention. The latest polling has shown Peltola and Sullivan running close, with different surveys producing different leads depending on the dates and methodology.
For now, the accusations remain disputed. Peltola’s campaign denies a pattern of abusive behavior, while former staffers cited by the Times describe a very different experience.
What is clear is that the allegations have now moved the internal culture of Peltola’s congressional and campaign operations into public view at a critical point in Alaska’s Senate race.
