Alaska Democrat postpones events after ‘minor injuries’ in automobile collision
Published 7:45 am Monday, October 26, 2026
Former Rep. Mary Peltola, the Democratic nominee for Senate in Alaska, a pivotal race, postponed planned campaign events for Sunday and Monday after sustaining “minor injuries that required medical attention” following an automobile collision on Saturday night, according to her campaign.
The vehicle that Peltola and her family were in was struck by another driver, Peltola’s campaign said in a news release. They were en route to the Alaska Federation of Natives annual banquet in Anchorage, a gathering of the state’s largest organization of Native American tribes.
“Mary and her family sustained minor injuries but are in good spirits,” Cheryl Bruce, Peltola’s campaign manager, said in a statement.
Peltola announced a seven-day campaign blitz Saturday, calling it the “Alaska Always Tour.” On the advice of medical professionals, she is rescheduling events in Fairbanks and Bethel for later in the week, Bruce said in her statement. The events were previously scheduled to take place Sunday and Monday. Other events will continue on schedule, the campaign said.
At around 6:55 p.m. on Saturday, officers responded to a multivehicle collision in southeastern Anchorage, according to a report from the city’s police department. A moving car had crashed into the rear of the stopped car Peltola was in, which then collided into another stopped car, a preliminary investigation found.
The occupants of the vehicle Peltola was in “were transported to a local hospital with non-life threatening injuries,” according to the report. The circumstances of the collision are under investigation, the report said.
When asked for additional information about the incident, Peltola’s campaign pointed to the statement from Bruce and declined to comment further.
Peltola is challenging Sen. Dan S. Sullivan, a Republican seeking a third term, in a race seen as a key battleground in the fight for control of the Senate.
The Alaska race has come under a national spotlight in recent days. The Department of Justice on Thursday asked a federal court to block the certification of the results if Sullivan loses narrowly, an extraordinary step that President Donald Trump said he ordered.
The Justice Department argued that voters’ confusion over another Republican candidate with the same name as the incumbent — except for a middle initial — could unfairly sway the election. The lawsuit is viewed as highly unlikely to succeed, in part because Alaska’s Supreme Court already ruled that both Sullivans may remain on the ballot.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.c.2026 The New York Times Company
