Late burst of rallies in Homer fire up the political faithful

In the final week leading up to the midterm election, candidates from both sides of the political aisle stepped up campaign efforts in Homer hoping to increase  voter turnout on Nov. 3.

“This race is going to be close. We all know it’s going to be close. I think we need every vote we’re going to get,” a campaign spokesperson for Mary Peltola said at a rally held Tuesday at Alice’s Champagne Palace for the Democratic U.S. Senate challenger.

On Saturday morning, Republican gubernatorial candidate Bernadette Wilson met with supporters at Captain’s Coffee. Rep. Nick Begich III, R-Alaska, held a meet-and-greet in the same location Monday. Peltola was in Homer the next day. On Wednesday, Rep. Sarah Vance, R-Homer, running for reelection, and former Homer City Council member Heath Smith, a Republican running for the Alaska Senate District C seat, spoke at Don Jose’s Restaurant on ranked choice voting and how Republicans could optimize their vote, particularly in the governor’s race.

Wilson’s visit to Homer was her first during the campaign. Her event was closed to media.

Begich touts record

When Independent candidate for Congress Bill Hill visited Homer recently, he in effect acted like a job applicant. On a visit Monday to a mostly supportive group of about 50 at a meet-and-greet at Captain’s Coffee, Rep. Nick Begich III, R-Alaska, appeared for his performance review.

Elected in 2024 in a tight race against former Rep. Mary Peltola, Begich didn’t mention Peltola by name, but he touted his record against hers, noting he sponsored 14 bills that passed the U.S. House of Representatives, seven of which were signed into law.

“A big part of getting things done is showing up, and that’s — I’m just telling you that’s the truth,” he said. “… I have the best attendance record of anyone that has represented Alaska in the United States House ever. OK, I have made 99.1% of my votes, and I regret not making the six that I missed.”

Begich cited a Facebook post he made listing his achievements, everything from opening up to oil and gas development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to a $47,500 airport grant for Fort Yukon.

With Republicans controlling the White House, the Senate and the House, Begich said he saw an opportunity to get bills passed that would benefit Alaska. He directed his staff to look at bills that had been kicking around for years if not decades.

“Listen, we’re not promised 10 years or 20 years. We get elected for two, and we may be freshmen, but we have a generational opportunity for Alaska, and so we’ve got to get everything through that window that we possibly can because we may never see a chance like this again,” he said.

While he didn’t mention the Iran War and the situation in the Middle East that have slowed oil exports and driven up the price of fuel, Begich alluded to those issues when he talked about how Asian countries have looked to Alaska for more stable oil and gas supplies, particularly with the proposed Alaska natural gas pipeline.

“Our international allies need that gas. People are recognizing, they’re being reminded that while it may be slightly cheaper to buy oil and gas from the Middle East, in the end you’re going to pay for it,” he said.

Begich said he, Gov. Mike Dunleavy and Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, met recently with a delegation from Taiwan, and he traveled with the House Natural Resources Committee Chair in a bipartisan delegation last year to Taiwan, Korea and Japan.

“They’re very interested in making sure that they not only have secure energy flows, but a strengthened alliance with the United States and Alaska,” he said.

Part of that has to do with trade negotiations with South Korea where Korea has committed to $350 billion in U.S. investments, $150 billion of which is for shipbuilding. That can go into roads, bridges, ports and pipelines that offer a return on investment. Foreign capital can have a lower cost, making projects “that were more on the bubble” more feasible, he said.

Following up on the issue of foreign investment in Alaska, Homer Independent Press editor Michael Armstrong started to ask Begich about the situation with Polar LNG, a company seeking to export natural gas from Alaska using technology — and, reportedly, investment — from the Russian company Novatek, a violation of sanctions against Russia.

A Begich staff member standing behind Armstrong tapped him on the shoulder and said media could not ask questions then. Begich called on Armstrong anyway and said he’d allow the question.

“That runs counter to our international policy right now, and I think let’s focus on the gas line,” Begich said.

In a follow-up email, Begich’s communications director, Silver Prout, said Begich strongly supports the Alaska LNG project and foreign investment “from investors that are aligned with American economic and national security interests,” she wrote.

“He does not support pursuit of Russian investment for Polar LNG under the present geopolitical and sanctions environment and believes the focus with respect to Russia should remain on ending the war in Ukraine,” she wrote.

The only mention of the high cost of fuel came up in a question from the audience, when a woman noted the average cost of a U.S. gallon of gasoline is $4.50. Our oil goes south, she said, and helps lower fuel costs there, but it doesn’t help Alaska’s prices.

“We need more refining capacity in the state of Alaska,” Begich said. “We have some refineries here, but we don’t refine enough of the product locally to even supply our own needs in Alaska.”

Charlie Franz, a Republican Party activist, asked Begich about Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s proposal to federalize the gas pipeline. Begich said there are four revenue buckets derived from a project like the pipeline: property taxes, C Corporation taxes, production taxes and royalties. If the gas line was federalized, it would mean property taxes couldn’t be collected. That was a sticking point among some in the Alaska legislature, he noted.

Peltola fires up voters

Despite a minor car accident Saturday in Anchorage, Peltola matched the Homer crowd’s positive energy at a Get Out the Vote rally Tuesday that kicked off her “Alaska Always” statewide tour. More than 150 people packed into Alice’s Champagne Palace, where campaign staffers handed out merchandise and volunteer sign-up sheets.

In a short speech, Peltola denounced her opponent, incumbent Sen. Dan S. Sullivan, R-Alaska, and his support of the Iran war and Trump’s tariffs.

“It is a moral moment, and people are coming out of the woodwork,” she said of this election year. “We’ve got to wrestle our Congress back. We’ve got to wrestle the Senate back for regular people, regular Alaskans who are here to find solutions, to work with each other.”

She also decried the slew of political “attack” ads that have characterized much of the current election season, calling instead for Alaskans to work together in “our nonpartisan way of doing things.”

“This is a feeling that we are so excited to export to the Lower 48,” she said. “Over 60% of us are independent, nonpartisan, undeclared and the other, you know, 12% and 25%, we’re … very tepidly involved in the party stuff.”

More than half the crowd raised their hands and cheered when she asked how many have participated in early voting.

“Now everybody needs to make sure that you’re latching onto 10 people,” she said. “I know we can do this. I know we’re going to win.”

Members of Peltola’s staff also spoke to the crowd Tuesday, sharing their experiences campaigning and urging attendees to encourage others to vote.

Press questions were not taken at the rally.

Candidates plan final campaign stops

Sarah Vance and Heath Smith, running as Republicans for Alaska’s House District 6 and Senate District C, respectively, met with voters Wednesday over tacos at Don Jose’s and discussed how to strategically mark ranked choice ballots.

Vance and Smith will visit Nikolaevsk at 6 p.m. on Thursday.

Sen. Sullivan, making a bid for a third term in the U.S. Senate, is scheduled to be in Anchor Point for a “Veterans for Sullivan” event, 5-7 p.m. on Friday at the Virl “Pa” Haga VFW Post 10221.

Voters should anticipate longer wait times when the polls open on Election Day next Tuesday. For the first time, City of Homer, Kenai Peninsula Borough and State of Alaska elections are on the same day. Voters will get multiple ballots: the Homer elections (if city residents), the borough elections and the state and federal elections. They also will place the city-borough ballot in a separate voting machine and the state-federal ballot in another machine. Ballots placed in the wrong machine will not go through so the voter can put them in the right machine.

Early voting for state and federal elections and absentee voting in person for city and borough elections is 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. today, Friday and next Monday. Polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m. next Tuesday. Early voting ballots cast through Thursday for state and federal elections will be counted on Election Day. Early voting ballots cast after that and absentee in person ballots will be counted after Election Day.