Alaska Senate Race Ads Mislead on Peltola’s Votes on Military Pay Raise

Ads successful the Alaska Senate contention are trading competing claims astir erstwhile Rep. Mary Peltola’s votes connected subject wage raises.

In precocious 2023, Peltola, a Democrat, voted successful favour of a compromise defence measure that included a 5.2% wage summation for members of the military. Earlier that year, she voted against a House mentation of the measure that included respective Republican amendments she opposed.

TV ads from Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan and a ace PAC supporting him instrumentality vantage of that spot of legislative messiness to misleadingly assertion that Peltola opposed subject wage raises. She didn’t.

Rather, her votes bespeak the governmental world astatine the time. The House was controlled by Republicans and the Senate by Democrats (when including the independents who caucused with them). In the House bill, Republicans added respective amendments, which Peltola and different Democrats criticized arsenic partisan “poison pills.” Many of those Republican amendments were stripped distant successful a compromise league study negotiated betwixt the House and Senate.

Peltola, who served for 2 and a fractional years successful the House, is present challenging Sullivan for his Senate seat. An unfastened “jungle” primary guided by Alaska’s ranked-choice voting volition beryllium held connected Aug. 18. The apical 4 vote-getters volition beforehand to the November wide election. The contention is rated a toss-up by Cook Political Report.

According to the narrator successful an advertisement from Last Frontier PAC, a ace PAC that supports Sullivan, Alaska voters “fired” Peltola from the House successful 2024 successful portion due to the fact that “Mary Peltola voted against a wage rise for our troops.”

Similarly, an advertisement from Sullivan’s campaign seeks to opposition Sullivan’s work successful the Marine Corps with Peltola’s record, saying, “Others merchantability out, go D.C. lobbyists, and instrumentality orders from the lower-48 liberals.” On surface the advertisement says, “Mary Peltola Voted Against Pay Raise for Alaska’s Troops.”

We reached retired to the Sullivan run but did not get a response. A spokesperson for Peltola’s run said the ads are “lying astir her record.”

“As the parent of 2 coasties, arsenic an Alaskan, and arsenic an American, Mary has ever stood with our servicemembers and veterans who sacrifice to guarantee our information and state – securing the biggest wage rise for our troops successful decades and warring to grow benefits for servicemembers, veterans, and their families,” the spokesperson said.

Both of the pro-Sullivan ads mention Peltola’s July 2023 vote successful the House against a National Defense Authorization Act bill, which included a 5.2% rise for members of the military.

At the time, Peltola called it “one of the astir hard votes I’ve ever had to take.” She specifically criticized Republican amendments added to the bipartisan bill, including 1 that would person constricted termination entree for subject personnel.

“We shouldn’t beryllium pitting wage raises that they [military members] merit against the reproductive freedoms that they besides deserve,” Peltola said successful a prepared connection astatine the time. “That is simply a mendacious choice, created for purely governmental reasons, and I look guardant to negotiations with the Senate’s mentation of the measure wherever this contented volition beryllium discussed further. I volition advocator powerfully to instrumentality to the bipartisan, policy-focused measure that came retired of committee, and volition gladly ballot for a measure that afloat protects our troops and their families.”

Indeed, immoderate of the amendments Peltola had criticized were stripped distant erstwhile the House and Senate negotiated a compromise defence bill. Peltola voted successful favor of the compromise conference report, which inactive included the 5.2% wage rise for the military. Sullivan besides voted for the compromise measure successful the Senate.

Peltola’s Ad

Peltola touted her ballot successful a caller TV ad.

In the ad, Peltola says she “pushed done the largest wage summation for our soldiers successful decades.”

Whether Peltola “pushed through” the wage rise is simply a subjective characterization. As we said, Peltola did ballot for the compromise measure (as did Sullivan), and it included a 5.2% wage rise for subject members. And that was the biggest subject rise successful much than 2 decades. (Peltola’s run claimed that she “helped craft” the bipartisan NDAA, noting that she co-sponsored respective amendments — 1 of which was included successful the last law. But nary of those amendments was related to the subject wage increase.)

As we person explained, subject raises are automatically determined by a look acceptable by law. Federal instrumentality mandates that subject wage raises beryllium adjacent to the alteration successful the Labor Department’s yearly Employment Cost Index, oregon ECI. The president tin suggest a higher oregon little wage raise, and Congress tin acceptable the fig successful legislation, overriding the automatic summation oregon a statesmanlike connection if the authorities becomes law. But successful this case, the 5.2% rise was in line with the ECI astatine the time.

Peltola’s run pointed america to a Congressional Budget Office study that notes: “Lawmakers person often overridden the look for work members by temporarily changing the instrumentality to specify a antithetic wage rise for a azygous twelvemonth done the yearly defence authorization and appropriations acts portion reverting to existent instrumentality for aboriginal years.” But successful each twelvemonth of President Donald Trump’s archetypal term, and each twelvemonth of Joe Biden’s presidency, Congress has approved subject wage raises successful lockstep with the ECI figure.

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