With a little more than two weeks until the Nov. 8 general election, candidates in Alaska are campaigning in full swing to reach voters. Some highlights:

Candidates for governor appeared in their one-and-only televised debate Wednesday. U.S. House candidates will debate each other on Wednesday, and U.S. Senate candidates will meet Thursday. Both debates will be broadcast live on television, radio and online, starting at 7 p.m. both nights.

More highlights:

Peltola, Pamyua and Portugal. The Man.

Rep. Mary Peltola’s campaign for U.S. House drew hundreds of people to Williwaw Social in downtown Anchorage Saturday evening for a free live music event featuring artists with Alaska roots. A full house watched performances by veteran “tribal funk” group Pamyua and Grammy Award-winning rock band Portugal. The Man.

Peltola appeared midway through Portugal. The Man’s hour-long set, to make brief comments to an enthusiastic crowd. She encouraged them, and the audience watching a live stream online, to vote. She then stuck around on stage to dance and sing along as the band led the audience in a cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Proud Mary.”

— Marc Lester

Check out the scene in this gallery:

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Stephen Blanchett of Pamyua performs. Rep. Mary Peltola’s campaign for U.S. House hosted a free music event at Williwaw Social in downtown Anchorage on Saturday, October 23, 2022. The event featured live music by Pamyua and Portugal. The Man. (Marc Lester / ADN)

GOP districts rebuke McConnell

A slew of Republican Party districts and groups have formally rebuked Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell for the tsunami of ads his Super PAC is running against conservative Republican U.S. Senate candidate Kelly Tshibaka.

The ads criticize her $81,000 in moving expenses back to Alaska and almost 600 “questionable” hours she claimed while working for the federal government. Tshibaka has denied any wrongdoing, but has been asked about the ads repeatedly on the campaign trail.

[Full coverage of the 2022 November general elections in Alaska]

The state GOP endorsed Tshibaka and censured Sen. Lisa Murkowski after she voted to impeach then-President Donald Trump, but McConnell is backing the incumbent, which has sparked a backlash from the conservative wing of the party.

— Sean Maguire

Young insiders back Peltola

Some former staffers and friends of the late Republican Congressman Don Young wrote a letter Friday endorsing Peltola, saying she is the best choice to advance Alaska’s interests for a full two-year term in Congress. Several have been disdainful of Begich III and former Gov. Sarah Palin, arguing the two Republicans are trying to advance their own careers by running for Congress, instead of doing what’s right for Alaska.

They say that Peltola, who was given Young’s bolo tie by his daughter at AFN Thursday, has taken a bipartisan approach during her short time in office by hiring some of the late-congressman’s staff and continuing to support some of his policy priorities. A group of Young supporters are fundraising for Peltola, and some are set to appear in her upcoming television campaign ads.

— Sean Maguire

Begich III and HAARP

Political website The Alaska Landmine reported on Republican U.S. House candidate Nicholas Begich III and his ownership stake of Alaska publishing company EarthPulse, Inc., and the various leadership positions he has held there.

The company publishes books written by Begich’s father, which promote conspiracy theories that HAARP, a University of Alaska-run facility which studies the ionosphere, is actually engaged in mass mind control, causes earthquakes and changes the weather. Begich III declared between $100,001 and $1 million in income earlier this year from the publishing company, and a similar overall stake in the business.

A spokesperson for his campaign told the Landmine that Begich does not have an “active day-to-day management role in the company,” his equity stake is long-standing and “any views or opinions reflected by the work published by Earthpulse are not, nor have they at any point been reflective of Nick Begich III’s views.”

— Sean Maguire

Shower’s anti-con con ad

Republican Sen. Mike Shower has written extensively on social media about how he decided to support a constitutional convention, touting it as a way to potentially resolve the Permanent Fund dividend debates and break gridlock in the Capitol.

Last September, he warned of the risks of a convention during PFD formula debates on the Senate floor, saying those discussions are better held by the Legislature and that in a convention, “We might very well lose control.” His earlier position has been used by the leading campaign against a convention in an advertisement on Facebook. Cue anger from Shower.

— Sean Maguire

Palin at pro-convention forum

Republican Sen. Shelley Hughes, who also called a convention a “high risk” option last year, appeared with Shower in a forum Tuesday in support of one, with Palin sitting in the front row.

The two state senators said a convention could potentially address multiple issues, like solving the PFD once and for all and changing how judges are selected in Alaska, while they accused the leading “no” campaign of fear mongering. Hughes, an abortion opponent, said Alaskans need to have a debate about the procedure, and compared the current era of legal abortions to how slavery is viewed today.

She and Jim Minnery, president of the conservative Christian advocacy group the Alaska Family Council, are set to appear at another pro-constitutional convention event Thursday evening at the Anchorage Baptist Temple, arguing that it would be “unbiblical” to not support one.

— Sean Maguire