Many Alaska Democrats and independents who voted for Mary Peltola are expressing shock and disappointment by her recent reticence to criticize Donald Trump, her rejection of Kamala Harris and her vote to censure Harris’s record as border czar.
However, anyone who has paid attention to Peltola’s record in Congress will not be surprised about her actions at all. Peltola has fashioned herself as a border hawk and has backed Trump-era border policy throughout her entire term. Just a few examples: She made a statement in June blasting President Joe Biden for his weakness on the border and the need to give Customs and Border Patrol the authority to expel migrants who come to this country without documentation. She voted for H.R. 957, which denounced the Biden administration’s open-border policy. She voted for H.R. 3602, which was a massive Trump-era border security bill that included, among other things, funding to “build the wall,” and banned the Department of Homeland Security from requiring COVID vaccines for their employees.
This is one of the areas that Peltola has decided to reject her party on, and she has been very consistent on border hawkishness. As an Alaska Democrat who voted for her in 2022, this is not something that I elected her to focus on, especially in a state that is losing population annually.
Rep. Peltola, please focus on issues that matter to Alaska, and switch your party affiliation if you cannot bring yourself to criticize Trump.
— Steve Robertson
Anchorage
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