Mary Peltola, the Alaska Democratic Senate nominee, called members of her own staff “f*ggots” and wished that a female Planned Parenthood leader would die from a “botched abortion,” according to an explosive report shaking up a key midterm battleground.
When Planned Parenthood lobbied hard for Peltola to vote against a 2024 defense bill that included anti-abortion measures, the then-House Democrat unloaded on one of the organization’s regional leaders. “I hope Planned Parenthood knows that if we don’t win it’s more their loss than ours. F*CK THOSE B*TCHES,” she wrote in a text message to her staff, according to The New York Times.
She also allegedly wished death upon a woman on the board of a local Planned Parenthood chapter, writing, “I hope she dies of a botched abortion,” in a text message reviewed by the Times.
The outlet spoke with nine former Peltola staff members and more than 20 others in her political circle, revealing a rocky Senate campaign marked by bitter infighting and led by a candidate whose grief has sometimes made it difficult for Peltola to contain her emotions.
One particularly contentious episode allegedly erupted in her House office in February 2024. According to the Times, Peltola, unable to find a memo for a meeting, shoved a male employee in the chest with one hand, causing him to stumble backward. The aide left Peltola’s team soon afterward. The Alaska Democrat, who is seeking to unseat Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan, allegedly referred to members of her staff as “f*ggots.” The campaign denied that she ever used the latter slur.
The abortion group has not endorsed her 2026 Senate campaign.
Harry Child, a spokesman for Alaskans for Mary, said Peltola has experienced grief in recent years that has been difficult to manage.
“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 reelection campaign — all while shouldering the enormous burden of grief,” he told the outlet.
In her House office, Peltola would at times stomp her feet and jump up and down, with anonymous aides telling the Times she once swept stacks of papers from her desk into the air in a scene reminiscent of the political show “Veep.”
After a commercial fisheries executive posted a selfie online with Peltola, despite her public opposition to large-scale commercial trawling, she reportedly texted a staffer: “F*ck that retard.”
Fast-forward to her current campaign, Peltola’s reported outbursts have dampened morale and contributed to high turnover, leaving aides feeling “anxious and exhausted,” according to text messages reviewed by the Times. One of the biggest blowups reportedly came in August, when Peltola fumed over a lack of campaign signs across Alaska.
“BIG SIGNS NEED TO BE SENT TO SOUTHEAST,” she wrote to aides in text messages. “OUR SIGN GAME IS F*CKED.”
The Democrat’s campaign insisted that Peltola has maintained positive relationships with staff members throughout her decades-long career.
“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,” the campaign said, responding to the explosive report.
Limited polling so far shows a competitive race. But Peltola would need to significantly outperform Kamala Harris’ 2024 showing in Alaska, when the former vice president lost the state by 13 points. Her campaign has rejected Harris’ endorsement and reportedly told her to stay away from Alaska, The Daily Wire reported.
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