Peltola's campaign launches a veterans coalition with more than 100 Alaska members

More than 100 Alaska veterans put their names behind Mary Peltola's U.S. Senate campaign on Wednesday. The coalition, called "Veterans for Mary," was launched by Peltola's campaign organization, Alaskans for Mary. Its statement says federal cuts to Department of Veterans Affairs healthcare and food assistance, along with the rising cost of gas, groceries and housing, are hurting Alaska veterans, servicemembers and military families.

Its founding members served in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, Marine Corps and National Guard, according to the group's public statement. The statement says Alaska veterans need a senator who will "protect and expand the healthcare and benefits we've earned."

She has campaigned as a military mom and the mother of two Coast Guard members. Alaska has the highest percentage of veterans of any state, a figure both campaigns cite.

Peltola's first bill in Congress, the Food Security for All Veterans Act, proposed an Office of Food Security inside the VA. Her campaign says she helped secure more than $150 million for Alaska military bases, including $107 million for JBER, $34 million for Fort Wainwright and $9.5 million for Eielson Air Force Base.

Sen. Dan Sullivan holds a veterans endorsement of his own. Concerned Veterans for America Action backed him in July. Sullivan retired from the Marine Corps Reserve as a colonel in early 2024 and sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs. The competing messaging includes Sullivan's second statewide ad featuring retired Marine Lance Corporal Nick Woodard, who says the VA first told him to relocate to Seattle for care until Sullivan intervened.

National Republicans dispute Peltola's record, saying she voted against veterans funding and military pay raises. House roll calls show she voted against passage of the National Defense Authorization Act on July 14, 2023, which cleared the House 219-210, and for the conference report on the same bill on Dec. 14, which passed 310-118 and carried a 5.2% increase.

The general election is November 3.