Alaska Senate candidate Mary Peltola was involved in a car accident that caused the Democrat to postpone two campaign stops during the final week before the midterm elections, her campaign announced on Oct. 25.
The former congresswoman and her family were traveling to the Alaska Federation of Natives Annual Banquet on Oct. 24 when the vehicle transporting them was struck by another driver, the campaign said in a statement provided to USA TODAY. The crash caused injuries that required medical treatment, according to the campaign.
"Mary and her family sustained minor injuries but are in good spirits," campaign manager Cheryl Bruce said.
Two stops on the campaign's "Alaska Always Tour" scheduled for Oct. 25 and Oct. 26 in Fairbanks and Bethel were
postponed as Bruce said Peltola was "taking time to recover" under "the advice of medical professionals."
The statement said the events would be rescheduled in "the coming days" for "later in the week." Other dates will continue as scheduled. The next event is scheduled for Peltola is a rally in Homer on Oct. 27, according to the campaign's website.
Peltola in key Senate race
Peltola is in a key race for control of the Senate against Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan. She would be the first Democrat elected from the state since 2008.
The Alaska Senate race is one of the nation's most competitive Senate contests and one of seven races in a state Trump won in 2024 now rated "toss up" by the Cook Political Report.
Sullivan has trailed the Peltola in available polling of the race.
The Trump administration sued on Oct. 23 to block the certification of the race if Sullivan does not win, alleging that another candidate on the ballot with an almost identical name may confuse voters and violate the senator’s duties under the National Voter Registration Act’s aim to "protect the integrity of the electoral process."
President Donald Trump told reporters that he directed the suit, saying, "I was the one who said to do it."
Peltola called the lawsuit "desperate" and "clearly corruption."
"It's sending a message that Dan Sullivan does not believe that Alaskans are sophisticated enough to know exactly who they're voting for and what the implication of their vote is," Peltola said in an interview with MS NOW on Oct. 23.
Attorney General Todd Blanche, a former personal attorney for Trump, defended the lawsuit Oct. 25 in an appearance on CNN's "State of the Union."
"Putting aside whether we're going to win or lose in the courts, putting aside what the Alaskan Supreme Court has done. In our system, we should not have a candidate who has to worry about another candidate being on the ballot for no other reason to confuse voters," Blanche said.
Contributing: Jay Stahl, Emily R. Condon, USA TODAY
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Alaska Senate candidate involved in car crash, campaign events postponed
