There’s a thing that happens in small towns. Somebody you barely know shows up at your door with a casserole you didn’t ask for, sets it on your counter, and then tells the whole church circle she’s been helping you through a hard time. You didn’t ask. You didn’t want it. And now you’re standing there holding a dish you can’t give back, explaining to your neighbors that you and this woman are not, in fact, close.
That’s what Kamala Harris just did to Mary Peltola.
Peltola is the Alaska Democrat trying to take Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan’s seat. She lost her own House race in 2024 by two points, she did not endorse Harris for president, and Harris lost Alaska by 13 or 14 points, depending on who’s counting. So naturally, Harris decided this was the perfect moment to ride to the rescue.
Out goes a fundraising email from Harris’s political outfit, Fight for the People PAC, telling supporters that Peltola “cannot do it alone” and that “if there’s anyone who can flip Alaska and secure the Senate majority for Democrats, it’s Mary.” Bless her heart. The email asked people to split a donation between Peltola’s campaign and Harris’s own PAC. Half the money goes to Harris. She’s helping, you see. She’s just helping herself to half of it while she’s at it.
The Peltola campaign swatted it away like a mosquito at a fish fry. “Mary isn’t seeking endorsements from anyone from the Lower 48,” a spokeswoman told KTUU in Anchorage. The campaign told the New York Times they didn’t approve the email. They didn’t ask for it. They didn’t want it. And they could see exactly what was coming next, because what came next was the Republican Party tying Peltola to Harris before the email server had even cooled down.
Nate Adams, a spokesman for Sullivan, put out a statement saying Alaskans rejected Harris by double digits and “can see exactly whose team Mary Peltola and Kamala Harris are on, and it isn’t Alaska’s.” The NRSC’s Nick Puglia called Peltola “an ineffective radical leftist who worked hand in hand with Kamala Harris to put Alaska last.” Whether that’s fair or not, and I have my own opinions about Peltola’s voting record, the point is that Harris handed them the rope for free. Tied the noose. Dropped it on the Republicans’ porch with a bow on it.
Here’s what I can’t get over. Harris lost Alaska by double digits. She lost the whole country. She lost the popular vote. She lost the Electoral College. She ran for 107 days and couldn’t convince the American people she was up to the job, and now she’s out here telling Alaska, a state that told her to go home, that she knows who can win their Senate seat? That’s not confidence, that’s a woman who can’t read a room.
And she’s apparently thinking about running for president again. She told Al Sharpton earlier this year, “I might, I might. I’m thinking about it.” Well, I’m thinking about a lot of things too, but I don’t send fundraising emails about them.
The Peltola campaign did the only thing it could do. You can’t have a woman who lost your state by 14 points parachuting in to “help” when you’re trying to convince Alaskans you’re not a creature of Washington. Peltola’s whole pitch is that she’s Alaska first, party second. Whether you believe that or not, and I’ve got my doubts, the last thing she needed was Kamala Harris gluing herself to the campaign like a bumper sticker you can’t peel off.
Some people just don’t know when they’ve worn out their welcome. And when even your own party is sprinting in the other direction the second you open your mouth, that’s not a sign you should try again. That’s a sign you should sit down.