Just hours before a key jungle primary decided the field for a critical Senate race the left hopes to flip, Democratic candidate Mary Peltola, a former state representative, fired numerous senior campaign staffers in what one local outlet described as a “Saturday night massacre.”
Peltola would win the all-party primary by a 48.1 percent to 42.7 percent margin over incumbent GOP Sen. Dan Sullivan on Tuesday, according to The Washington Post.
However, most of the remaining votes are likely to skew Sullivan’s way in November — including a candidate with the name Daniel J. Sullivan who ran as a Republican but was a Democratic op to draw votes away from the incumbent on the first ballot.
In addition, while polling of varying quality consistently showed Peltola ahead by anywhere between 2 to 7 percentage points in a general election matchup, a June 15-29 New York Times/Siena University poll showed Sullivan up by two. The poll was the first survey to meet the Times’ quality-control standards for its polling aggregate.
While it’s unclear why, The Alaska Landmine reported Monday that Peltola had “abruptly fired multiple senior campaign staff” over the weekend, just days before the primary.
This included two senior officials, Anton McParland and Elisa Rios, who had been with her since 2022, when she was elected to the U.S. House in 2022; Rios was her chief of staff.
This is true
And Anton McParland, Peltola’s campaign manager and former chief of staff, is no longer with the campaign. https://t.co/21oJ6qriay
— Kellen Browning (@Kellen_Browning) August 17, 2026
From the Landmine:
One source with knowledge of the firings described the campaign in “complete chaos” with other staff wondering if they still have a job. …
Democrats need to pick up four seats to take control of the Senate. Many political observers feel Alaska is a must-win state for Democrats to gain a majority in the Senate.
The campaign shake-up comes one day after the Peltola campaign publicly distanced itself from the support of former Vice President Kamala Harris. It’s not clear if that is the reason or contributed to the decision to fire senior staff. Harris lost Alaska to Donald Trump in 2024 by 13 points. In that same election, Peltola lost to Representative Nick Begich (R – Alaska) by just 2.4 points.
Instead, sources said that Peltola had turned to a liberal-leaning Chicago-based firm founded by former Barack Obama adviser David Axelrod called Thematic Campaigns.
While not intimately familiar with the unusual nature of Alaska’s campaigns — which are often grueling tests of turnout that require considerable knowledge of local issues — Thematic has “worked on including Barack Obama, Adam Schiff, Pete Buttigieg, and Sheldon Whitehouse,” the Landmine reported.
Sources also told the outlet that the Democratic National Committee had occasioned the “massacre” and pushed Thematic onto the Peltola campaign, although this was not confirmed.
Of the states that went for Donald Trump in 2024 and have Senate races in 2026, only North Carolina had better odds of flipping Democrat on the prediction markets as of Wednesday night, according to 270 to Win.
Will Peltola win in November?
Yes: 8% (1 Votes)
No: 92% (12 Votes)
Peltola still holds a 56 percent chance of beating Sullivan on Kalshi.
However, Democrats now have to worry about a flip in Michigan, where radical (and less electable) Wayne County public health official Abdul El-Sayed scored a narrow victory over U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens in the Democratic Primary. Another chance for a flip was seemingly lost Tuesday when Democratic socialist state Rep. Angie Nixon scored a stunning upset in the Florida senatorial primary over Alexander Vindman, a former National Security Council member best remembered for his role in precipitating Donald Trump’s first impeachment.
In addition, scandals continue to plague what was thought to be the easiest Democratic Senate pickup of the 2026 midterms, as Troy Jackson — the replacement for the disgraced Graham Platner in Maine — is now facing decades-old partner-abuse allegations of his own, albeit allegations that partner denies making, despite having filed a police report.
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