Politics

‘It would be catastrophic’: A Supreme Court decision could upend Alaska’s crucial Senate race

Published

5 months ago

April 12, 2026

In the villages that dot Kodiak Island off the coast of southwest Alaska, the post arrives by plane. Mailing a ballot to the archipelago’s hub takes at least two days — if the region’s frequent storms haven’t grounded air traffic.

It’s a common problem across Alaska. And it’s a big reason why the state allows ballots postmarked by Election Day to be counted for up to 10 days afterward, a critical reprieve for voters in remote communities that are disconnected from the state’s highway system and sometimes even polling locations.

That’s why Alaskans across the political spectrum are sounding the alarm about a pending Supreme Court ruling. A majority of justices appear to be leaning toward barring states from counting late-arriving ballots, a ruling that would upend voting laws in Alaska and more than a dozen other states. That could potentially disenfranchise hundreds of voters in Kodiak’s distant villages and thousands more across the remote reaches of The Last Frontier — and upend Alaska’s election process in a state that could determine Senate control.

“This matters a lot in a place like Kodiak, because absentee voting, it’s not a convenience here,” said Jared Griffin, the mayor of Kodiak Island Borough, who is an independent. “It’s going to really hurt those rural, remote voters.”

A ban on late-arriving ballots could have an outsized impact on Alaska Natives, many of whom live in rural villages that already experience delays in receiving and returning ballots. It’s a scenario that’s sparking bipartisan fears of depressed turnout in the state’s hotly competitive Senate race between former Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola and GOP Sen. Dan Sullivan. The contest could decide control of the chamber.

Democrats in particular are crying foul — accusing Republicans of pushing changes that could disenfranchise members of a significant Democratic-leaning voting bloc.

“It would be catastrophic. It’s mean-spirited,” Eric Croft, the chair of the Alaska Democratic Party, said of the potential effect on rural and Native voters. “It would hurt participation in rural Alaska. And Mary Peltola’s very strong in her Native communities, and in the community she comes from. So I think it will hurt her.”

‘Blunt-force trauma’

President Donald Trump won Alaska by 13 points in 2024. But both sides see a competitive Senate race shaping up.

Peltola holds a narrow edge over Sullivan in the handful of public polls testing the race so far, leading the Republican by 5 percentage points in an Alaska Survey Research poll from mid-March. National Democrats see Peltola as a major recruiting win, and have already put over $3 million into boosting her campaign, according to ad tracking firm AdImpact.

Republicans are shoveling money into the state as well, a sign they don’t see Sullivan as a lock. Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC aligned with Majority Leader John Thune, pledged this week to pump $15 million into the race — a staggering sum for the state of 740,000 people.

Core to Peltola’s hopes of flipping the state — and possibly the Senate — are running up the score in the Bush region, the term Alaskans use for the a vast expanse of isolated villages from the Aleutian Islands to the North Slope that are cut off from the state’s road system and include much of its indigenous communities.

Alaska Natives make up roughly 20 percent of the state’s electorate and are a powerful force in its politics. They helped propel Peltola, who is Yup’ik and has deep roots in the Bethel region, to her 2022 special-election upset to serve out the remainder of the late Rep. Don Young’s term in the House. In the November election that year, Peltola swept the vast majority of predominantly Native precincts, according to an analysis by Split Ticket. They’ve also backed GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski against right-wing challengers; Sullivan has ties with the communities as well.

Many Alaska Natives rely on voting by mail, and activists see it as a critical tool in rural stretches where voter turnout is often lower than in more urban areas. That includes the region Peltola represented in the state House.

Ballots come in late from all over the state where more than four-fifths of communities are cut off from the main road system. But they’re tardy from rural and Native communities at a rate two-to-three-times higher than those coming from mainly urban and non-Native areas, according to a brief that a group of Native organizations filed to the Supreme Court. In state House District 38, which Peltola represented, nearly four-fifths of all absentee ballots came in after Election Day.

None of those late-arriving ballots would be counted if the Supreme Court strikes down a five-business-day grace period in Mississippi, in the case brought by the Republican National Committee and backed by the Trump administration.

“They want a ballot in their hands the day of election [so] you know the winner that night. That’s difficult,” said Democratic state Rep. Maxine Dibert, an Alaska Native who represents a district in and around Fairbanks, in the rural center of the state. “There’s already barriers to voting.”

The ruling, which could come this summer, could upend election administration in Alaska just two months before the state’s primaries — a worst-case scenario that prompted the state’s Republican attorney general, Stephen Cox, to ask the court to issue “clear parameters for Alaska” in its eventual ruling. Though Cox did not take sides in the case, he stressed the “unique challenges” Alaskans face in voting in a state where volatile weather can knock out mail services and polling locations sometimes lack the staff to open.

Peltola’s campaign said in a statement that she would work to ensure “Alaskans are able to make their voices heard” in November.

“Mary believes everyone who is eligible to vote should have access to the ballot box and one-size-fits-all rules from DC rarely work for large rural states like Alaska,” campaign spokesperson Harry Child said. “Whether by road, plane, or boat, we’ll be reaching Alaskans where they’re at and making sure they can participate in our safe and secure elections.”

Alaskan leaders are also bracing for the far less likely passage of the SAVE America Act, a set of voting strictures being pushed by Trump and his allies that state officials and local activists warn could further disenfranchise rural and Native populations. The bill is stalled in the Senate in part over the objections of Alaska’s senior senator, Republican Lisa Murkowski, though Sullivan supports it.

“We’re going through a lot of blunt-force trauma with this multi-pronged effort to not meet the voters where we’re at,” said Michelle Sparck, who runs Get Out the Native Vote, a nonpartisan group dedicated to improving Native turnout.

Senate stakes

Murkowski, who has drawn strong Native support across her campaigns and is backing Sullivan in his reelection bid over her former ally Peltola, has slammed her party’s twin efforts to curtail mail voting and tighten identification requirements as a “level of voter intimidation.” And she has warned a Supreme Court ruling eliminating the grace period for mail ballots would hit her state harder than any other.

“I’ve got a state that is very reliant on mail-in voting,” she told Blue Light News, “and we want to continue that.”

Sullivan has his own ties to Native communities. He’s won the backing of several federation leaders in their personal capacities. His wife, Julie Fate Sullivan, is Koyukon Athabascan and hails from an influential family.

A spokesperson for Sullivan said the senator believes mail ballots cast by or on Election Day — even if they are received afterward — should be counted.

“Senator Sullivan has a record dating back to his time as Alaska’s Attorney General of defending voting rights for Alaskans, particularly in rural and Alaska Native communities. He believes that every eligible vote cast before or on Election Day should be counted,” Sullivan spokesperson Amanda Coyne said in a statement. “He also applauds Alaska Attorney General Stephen Cox for filing an amicus brief in this case, highlighting Alaska’s unique challenges and geography.”

Art Hackney, a veteran GOP operative who is running an outside group backing Sullivan’s reelection bid, said voters would adjust to potentially having to mail their ballots earlier. And he suggested the effect on the Senate race would be negligible.

“It’s just a matter of figuring out how to deal with it,” Hackney said. “The percentage impact, I think you can toss a coin — a few this way, a few that way. They’re both going to be fighting for [Native and rural] votes.”

But Democrats, who see Alaska as a possible linchpin to their hopes of retaking the Senate, say the restrictions could hurt Peltola on her home turf — potentially imperiling their broader midterms strategy.

They argue that Alaska has already taken steps to tighten voting rules, pointing to the sweeping and bipartisan elections overhaul bill lawmakers sent to GOP Gov. Mike Dunleavy last month that would update voter rolls, create a ballot-tracking system and establish a ballot-curing process.

“These efforts do one thing and one thing only: disenfranchise people who live in rural parts of Alaska,” said Jim Lottsfeldt, a longtime Democratic strategist in the state who is not involved in the Senate race. “You could make the argument that these sort of things hurt Peltola, because as the first Native woman to be elected to statewide office, she obviously has the support of Alaska Natives. That’s a core constituency.”

Politics

GOP anxiety grows over North Carolina Senate race

Published

17 hours ago

September 12, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

DALLAS — Republicans are increasingly worried that North Carolina’s Senate race is slipping out of contention.

For months, they had argued that a post-Labor Day infusion of cash could jolt new energy into the largely stagnant but critical Senate race. But as Republican nominee Michael Whatley struggles to meaningfully close the gap against Democrat Roy Cooper in the polls, some in the party fear they’re running out of time.

Republicans’ concerns were apparent in side conversations, closed-door meetings and even on-stage speeches at their splashy midterm convention in Dallas.

Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, a former National Republican Senatorial Committee chair, told Blue Light News that North Carolina was “probably one of the hardest” states on the map.

“You’re running against an existing governor,” Scott said of Cooper. “So that makes it harder in an open seat.”

One person, granted anonymity to discuss a private lunch they attended with Senate Majority Leader John Thune and the Senate Leadership Fund on the second day of the convention, similarly described the North Carolina race as “tough.” The lunch was focused on the party’s battleground Senate map, and Thune zeroed in on Alaska, Maine and Michigan as top targets.

“North Carolina and Georgia are seen by most as off the map at this point, and with Michigan and New Hampshire becoming real flip opportunities as we get closer to November, it’s becoming even more challenging to justify spending in North Carolina and Georgia,” said one GOP pollster who was in Dallas for the convention and, like others in this article, was granted anonymity to speak candidly.

Public polling has consistently shown Cooper ahead, including a survey released Thursday that found the Democrat leading Whatley by 11 points among likely voters.

Even President Donald Trump appeared to acknowledge the challenge: “Now in North Carolina, you have a little more difficult case, because people don’t quite get it, but they’re going to find out,” he said during his speech on the first night of the convention, while reiterating his support for Whatley, his former handpicked Republican National Committee chair.

The White House later announced that he will travel to Gastonia, North Carolina, for a campaign rally with Whatley next week. “The president’s first visit in the coming week is going to be helpful,” said a person close to the Whatley campaign. “Roy Cooper has maxed out his support and can’t grow anymore. But voters in NC, especially on the right, tune in late and break late. The Trump visit will be a good motivator for our voters.”

North Carolina’s Senate contest has been one of the more subdued races of the cycle, especially for a perennial battleground that could play a pivotal role in determining control of the upper chamber. That could change as more money pours in during the final stretch — and if Whatley can pick up more steam.

“Some in D.C. — [Republicans] and [Democrats] — have viewed North Carolina as typically a slam dunk for Republicans,” Doug Heye, a longtime GOP strategist who is from North Carolina. “But that just isn’t true, as tight presidential and senatorial margins have shown us time and again.”

SLF, the top Senate super PAC, has pledged an initial $71 million in North Carolina through Election Day, including an initial $17 million summer advertising campaign supporting Whatley. No Going Back PAC, which is affiliated with the president’s MAGA Inc. super PAC, dropped roughly $5 million into North Carolina earlier this week. But in a state that has some of the country’s most expensive media markets, both parties may ultimately need to spend substantially more.

Whatley was at the Dallas convention, where he attended an event hosted jointly by SLF and the NRSC discussing the battleground map. He also had a speaking slot.

Whatley told Blue Light News that he was confident his campaign was “going to have the resources that we need to get our message out and talk to the voters about the issues that they care about.” Asked about the prospect of an influx of support from MAGA Inc., Whatley said he would “wait and see how that entire universe is going to come.”

But some Republicans are questioning whether additional money is enough to change the race’s trajectory at this point.

“There is still time, but even with at least $100 million, [Whatley] would need a campaign team capable of turning that money into actual points,” said one North Carolina-based Republican operative.

And Whatley could run up against the overall difficult environment for the GOP, as the party needs to shore up Republicans in other expensive states — like Texas — that historically have not needed attention.

“We can’t allocate a limited amount of resources and energy to 10 Senate races and expect to do well. We should be over-indexing where we think we have an edge,” the GOP pollster told Blue Light News in Dallas.

The NRSC isn’t worried about Whatley’s current standing.

“Summer polling has flattered North Carolina Senate Democratic candidates before only to be proven wrong in November,” Bernadette Breslin, NRSC national press secretary, said in a statement. In 2020, polling at this point in the cycle showed GOP Sen. Thom Tillis trailing Cal Cunningham, the Democrat, before Tillis ultimately won by roughly two percentage points. Cunningham was also caught in a late-cycle scandal.

Democrats haven’t won a Senate race or carried North Carolina at the presidential level since 2008, though they’ve come close a few times. But it’s undeniable that Republicans’ struggle to address high costs of living — voters’ top concern heading into November — and Trump’s sagging approval ratings are putting Democrats in a strong position, both in North Carolina and other key battleground states.

“When you look at Republicans who won close races in the past, the setting and political environment aren’t the same,” said a national GOP operative who was also in Dallas for the convention.

“Sen. Tillis was elected in 2014, a wave year for Republicans,” the operative said. “Tillis won reelection in 2020 with Trump at the top of the ticket, and his opponent had a huge scandal. 2022 was an open seat [and] Ted Budd was a congressman. Dems gave up on the seat and didn’t put the money needed into the race to win.”

For their part, North Carolina Democrats aren’t relying on Cooper’s current wide polling advantage to hold. The Cooper campaign noted that the former governor’s lead is already narrowing.

The political dynamics of the state also make Democrats uneasy: North Carolina has backed the Republican presidential nominee in each of the last four elections, and Whatley could still benefit from an enormous influx of outside spending.

“A Democrat has not won statewide federal office here in nearly two decades — and Whatley’s elite D.C. connections mean Republicans are going to spend whatever it takes to keep this seat,” Jeff Allen, Cooper’s North Carolina campaign manager, said in a statement. “North Carolina is a 50-50 state and this will be a margin-of-error race, which is why we’re building a campaign to earn every vote and make sure North Carolinians know that Roy Cooper will fight for them, while Michael Whatley will continue to enrich himself at their expense.”

Still, for Republicans, the challenge goes beyond money. Motivating lower-propensity Republican voters — who are loyal to Trump but who may otherwise ignore a midterm election — is central to the party’s strategy. It was an overarching goal of the midterm convention as GOP lawmakers and Trump officials repeatedly warned of a democratic socialist takeover and focused on bread-and-butter issues for their base.

Paul Shumaker, a longtime North Carolina GOP operative and top consultant for Tillis, said Whatley is running up against two key hurdles that threaten to dog Republicans this cycle: GOP voters’ low enthusiasm and Trump’s sinking standing with unaffiliated voters.

“The President is underwater with unaffiliated voters, and Michael Whatley has to win a majority of those unaffiliated who turn out this election year,” said Shumaker, who is unaffiliated in the race. “Given North Carolina’s registration number and the fact that there is little to no crossover voting between the two major parties, fixing both problems is the only path to victory.”

Meredith Lee Hill contributed to this report.

Politics

At 9/11 ceremony, Giuliani and Mamdani … shake hands?

Published

2 days ago

September 11, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani shook hands and

BEST FRENEMIES: Didn’t see this one coming.

At Friday’s ceremony commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, former Mayor Rudy Giuliani — he of the recent anti-Muslim tirade — shook hands with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, the subject of that rant.

The former Republican mayor even offered prayers for Mamdani during their brief exchange, according to a person with knowledge of the matter who was granted anonymity to discuss it.

“Rudy told him he knows it’s a tough job and he’s praying for him,” the person told Playbook.

After attending a memorial service at a church near ground zero later in the day, Mamdani, the city’s first Muslim mayor, told reporters he and Giuliani “exchanged pleasantries” when asked what they discussed.

In another unexpected clasp, NBC News reported former Mayor Bill de Blasio was seen hugging and amicably chatting with his longtime tormentor, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Republican Vice President JD Vance milled about among Democratic foes including former presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama. And a Giuliani aide publicly defended both Mamdani and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez from allegations they were laughing throughout the ceremony (they were not).

What does it all mean?

It seems — despite an unprecedented buildup of partisan rancor directed, for the most part, at the current New York City mayor ahead of the Lower Manhattan ceremony — that the gravity of the event and the desire to focus on the 2,983 victims was enough to bring beefing politicians back down to earth, for a few hours at least.

“This is a moment of common humanity and that’s what I saw on display from people who may say things in the moment. But at that moment, we were united,” Gov. Kathy Hochul told BLN.

New York Archbishop Ronald Hicks told Playbook he believes Giuliani was “following in the steps of Jesus” by offering prayers to Mamdani. “He asks us to pray for not only those we love and who we agree with, but to pray for everyone,” he said. “So I just really believe that it’s following in his footsteps, and prayer is a powerful sign of unity, and however that exchange was between them, hopefully it’s a great reflection of Christ.”

The idea that a sitting New York City mayor would skip a 9/11 commemoration ceremony is farfetched, and 74% of New York voters told a pollster recently the mayor should go. But Mamdani was asked to stay away anyhow for reasons ranging from his association with a Twitch streamer who once said “America deserved 9/11” to his own religion. Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman urged first responders to turn their backs on the young democratic socialist.

At Friday’s ceremony, however, none of that happened. And in fact, the elected officials were mostly an afterthought.

Family members read out the names of every victim over the course of several hours in a ceremony interspersed with moments of silence to denote milestones in the terror attacks, including the moments when two commercial jets slammed into the twin towers.

All living presidents and mayors — with the exception of President Donald Trump and former Mayor Eric Adams — attended.

Throughout the proceedings, Mamdani and the crowd of officials largely observed the recitation in silence, with Mamdani staying after the event to speak and take photos with several families.

The political comity, however, gave way to an arch warning once the memorial was over.

In an interview following the event, Cuomo said the memorial service should, in part, serve as a reminder to remain vigilant for a younger generation of political leaders like Mamdani, the man who defeated him in last year’s hotly contested mayoral election.

“They should be thinking that this is not a page of history,” he said, pointing to the war in Iran and rising concerns over antisemitism. “This is a present-day threat. It wasn’t a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence. This could happen again. The circumstances for it happening again are much more real than they’ve been in a long time.”

And outside the World Trade Center memorial, a heated clash between two elements of the far-right was a stark reminder of the country’s messy and increasingly fractured political landscape, with white nationalist Jake Lang staging an anti-Muslim rally that was counter-protested by a man shouting “Allahu akbar” and men dressed as Nazis shouting antisemitic slogans. — Joe Anuta, Nick Reisman and Chris Sommerfeldt

From the Capitol

New York is experiencing a spike in parents seeking to exempt their children from state vaccine mandates.

SCHOOL VAX: New York is seeing a spike in parents seeking exemptions from the state’s school vaccine mandates, with one of those challenges potentially headed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

A mother looking to preserve her unvaccinated child’s kindergarten enrollment at the Waverly School in Eastchester is challenging the state’s vaccination laws, which only allow students with an approved medical exemption to attend school without the required vaccines, according to court documents filed last month.

The Supreme Court declined to intervene in a Sept. 8 order, without offering any explanation. But Patricia Finn, the attorney representing the family, says the case will proceed at the federal trial court level, but the child won’t be allowed in school while the court deliberates. If they lose, they plan to petition to bring it before the Supreme Court.

The case represents a challenge to school immunization mandates that have been in place since 1996. The state Legislature eliminated religious exemptions after a deadly measles outbreak in an Orthodox Jewish community. Those mandates — which apply to all public, private and religious schools — require children to receive all age-appropriate required vaccinations in order to be admitted to or attend a school.

The state Education Department said it received more appeals requesting medical exemptions to required vaccinations during the 2025-26 school year than ever before. Both that agency and the state Health Department declined to provide data backing that claim, though.

However, the Health Department provided a dataset on the state’s school immunization survey. For the 2024-25 school year, 941 of 2,755 public schools outside New York City reported at least one student with a medical exemption, according to the data. Among private schools, 184 of 861 reported at least one student with a medical exemption.

FROM THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL

Gun safety group Every Town for Gun Safety endorsed Gov. Kathy Hochul for reelection today.

ENDORSEMENT CORNER: Hochul picked up an endorsement today from Everytown for Gun Safety.

The gun safety group touted Hochul’s work “banning 3D-printed ghost guns, getting illegal guns off our streets, and driving gun violence to its lowest levels in recorded New York history.”

Hochul, who’s running for her second full term this year, has been leaning into messaging about safety and frequently touts drops in crime under her leadership. In 2022, crime was a pain point for New York Democrats up and down the ballot.

In its endorsement, Everytown chided Trump, as well as Hochul’s opponent, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, for “cowering to the gun lobby.”

Blakeman has pushed back against a state law prohibiting guns in sensitive locations, including places of worship. He said he has “always supported the Second Amendment,” and in an appeal to Second Amendment supporters, vowed to “vigorously defend the rights of law-abiding New Yorkers.” Democrats have gone after him for implementing a provisional special deputy sheriff program made up of armed citizens.

But Blakeman has faced skepticism from gun-rights advocates for previously saying he supports “reasonable restrictions” on gun ownership.

While the NRA Political Victory Fund gave Hochul an F rating, it lists a question mark for Blakeman — along with his running mate, Madison County Sheriff Todd Hood, and GOP attorney general candidate Saritha Komatireddy. The group has not endorsed in any of New York’s statewide races. — Madison Fernandez

PAC IT UP: Major GOP groups are descending on the Hudson Valley to boost Republican Rep. Mike Lawler.

No Going Back PAC, a super PAC affiliated with the president’s political operation, has reserved a $4 million ad buy in the district, according to the ad tracker AdImpact. A separate group called Safety and Affordability PAC placed close to $3 million in ads. And that’s on top of close to $7 million from the Congressional Leadership Fund.

In addition, America PAC, the group backed by Elon Musk, has so far spent around $50,000 on calls and printing, according to Federal Election Commission records. Another group, America First Agriculture Action Inc., put in more than $300,000 for mail and digital advertising.

There hasn’t been significant outside spending in support of Democratic challenger Cait Conley yet.

Outside GOP spending is also ramping up in Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi’s Long Island district. CLF has placed $4 million in advertising, per AdImpact, and No Going Back PAC has put in more than $200,000 to support Suozzi’s GOP challenger, former state Assemblymember Mike LiPetri.

The substantial buys are a sign of which New York districts national Republicans are prioritizing this year. Last week, CLF pulled its reservations in support of state Sen. Peter Oberacker, who’s challenging Democratic Rep. Josh Riley upstate. — Madison Fernandez

IN OTHER NEWS

— MOTOR SKILLS: A version of Tesla’s autonomous Cybercabs — which have been modified to include a steering wheel and an option for a driver to intervene — have hit the streets of New York City. (Gothamist)

— ENDORSEMENT WATCH: On the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Hochul secured the endorsements of three major firefighter unions. (City & State)

— BAR FLIGHT: Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is among 1,000 lawyers suspended from practicing in New York. (Times Union)

Missed this morning’s New York Playbook? We forgive you. Read it here.