Alaska Democratic Senate hopeful Mary Peltola drew ridicule Thursday night after GOP critics, including incumbent Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan, pounced on her use of notecards during their debate.
Sullivan is locked in an unusually close race with Peltola, a former congresswoman, as Republicans fight to hold their narrow Senate majority. The contest is further complicated by another candidate who shares Sullivan’s name but has a different middle initial.
Peltola appeared to have a notecard-sized paper with bullet points that she looked down at for several seconds while answering earlier questions.
“Really, Mary? Reading off a script? You can’t cue-card your way through the Senate,” Sullivan wrote on X.
The criticism quickly became a flashpoint, with Republican commentators seizing on her apparent reliance on prepared notes.
“Mary, blink twice if you are okay. It seems you can’t string a sentence together without reading from the talking points your Lower 48 handlers wrote you,” NRSC official Joanna Rodriguez posted on X.
Another social media user wrote that Peltola “can’t read her name or that she’s a grandmother without needing a cue card,” adding a laughing emoji.
After Peltola appeared to read from her card again, Sullivan interrupted with a question for the moderators.
“We weren’t supposed to get these questions beforehand, were we?” he asked.
“No, sir,” Alaska’s News Source reporter Wil Courtney replied. “Absolutely not,” added Alaska Public Media chief editor Lori Townsend.
“OK,” Sullivan said. “I’m just watching my opponent.”
Peltola interjected that she was better “prepared.”
The Republican Party’s research arm piled on, sharing a clip of Peltola appearing to read from her card and tweeting that she “did not introduce a single bill to help Alaska fisherman during her first term in Congress” and “has to read off of a script when talking about Alaska’s fishing industry.”
The debate also turned personal when Sullivan confronted Peltola over allegations that she mistreated former staffers. Citing reporting by The New York Times, he claimed 25 employees had quit while working for her.
Peltola rejected the claims as “outright fabrications or mass exaggerations of the truth,” arguing the election should not be about her “worst day.”
The heated exchange prompted moderators to call for decorum and warn that microphones could be cut if the candidates kept interrupting each other. Sullivan maintained the allegations reflected a pattern of behavior, while Peltola accused him of exploiting the controversy for political gain.
The candidates were also pressed on Alaska’s long-discussed liquefied natural gas pipeline after moderators reported that South Korea had not committed to investing in the project, despite President Donald Trump’s public promotion of a potential deal.
Sullivan defended the administration, arguing Seoul had committed funding through a broader trade agreement while acknowledging the specific investment amount remained under negotiation. Peltola also backed the pipeline but warned against raising expectations without firm commitments, saying Alaska should not be “promoting falsehoods that just have no substance.”
Both candidates touted the project’s economic potential, though the exchange exposed uncertainty over whether the promised foreign investment would materialize.
Peltola previously became the first Democrat in decades to represent Alaska in the House after the death of Republican Rep. Don Young.
“Last debate Dan Sullivan copied Mary’s answers, this debate he got mad that she was too prepared. He’ll say and do anything to distract from his record of voting for the war in Iran and raising costs on Alaskans,” an Alaskans for Mary spokesperson told Fox News Digital after the debate.
Sullivan’s seat has emerged as a major Democratic pickup opportunity in a state Trump carried in 2024. The Cook Political Report rates the race a toss-up, making Alaska one of several battlegrounds that could decide which party controls the Senate in January.
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