Politicians are, above all else, creatures of expedience. If an action, policy position, or stance helps them hold their position, they do it; if it harms their reelection chances, they avoid it. There are exceptions, of course, to every rule. Some people, even some politicians, who are people, if we use the term in the broadest possible sense, are ruled by principle and not expedience.
Most politicians are not creatures of principle, though. As an example, I give you Alaska’s own Democrat at-large Representative, Mary Peltola. A little over a year ago, she offered up a rather enthusiastic endorsement of the befuddled old Joe Biden in the 2024 presidential election.
Alaska Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola endorsed Joe Biden for president in 2024.
Peltola’s endorsement comes after Biden announced his reelection campaign this week. She said in a statement that his backing of the Willow project — a massive ConocoPhillips oil project on the North Slope — contributed to her support.
“We don’t always see eye to eye, but President Biden has impressed me with his support for Willow and his commitment to civil, constructive discussions,” Peltola said in the statement. “I’ll support him as long as he continues to include Alaskans in those discussions.”
But now, with Kamala Harris as the presumptive Democratic nominee for the 2024 presidential election, Mary Peltola has backed off on her endorsements with a downright baffling statement:
Still, however, some vulnerable Democrats are not yet taking the plunge, stopping short of backing Harris in the immediate aftermath of Biden’s decision to pass the torch.
Reps. Don Davis (D-N.C.), Jared Golden (D-Maine), Vicente Gonzalez (D-Texas), Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-Wash.), Josh Harder (D-Calif.) and Mary Peltola (D-Alaska) — all frontliners — have not thrown their support behind Harris, according to a tracker kept by The New York Times, omissions that are raising some eyebrows.
Peltola told The Hill on Monday that she does not endorse in races — “I as a rule do not believe in endorsements” — and refused to say if she thinks Harris is a strong person to be on the Democratic ticket, pointing to the diverse nature of Alaska.
“Alaska is 63 percent independent, non-partisan, undeclared. So I am not a super active person within the Democratic Party,” she said.
Pressed on if she supports Harris, Peltola responded “as a human being I do support her, I do not make any endorsements though politically,” before hurrying away from reporters.
Expedience, then, and not principles.
See Related: Report: Leak Reveals More About Why Obama Hasn’t Endorsed Harris
NEW: Barack Obama to Endorse Kamala Harris for President
Granted, Mary Peltola may not be as easy to oust as we Alaska Republicans would like to think. While a measure for a repeal of ranked-choice voting (RCV) is on the ballot this fall, the 2024 election will still be held under RCV rules, largely what put Mary Peltola in office in red Alaska in the first place. But she is, nevertheless, a red-state Democrat, and the Republican Party has made her, along with several other red-state Democrats, a priority for removal — and in 2022, Mary Peltola was able to hitch her campaign wagon to the nominally Republican Lisa Murkowski and, in so doing, take advantage of Murkowski’s cobbled-together coalition of Anchorage and Juneau liberals and squishy Republicans. That’s not an option for her this year.
Regardless of this, Mary Peltola, while having once won election in a red state, much of whose population is stubbornly independent, has proven herself to be a creature who is concerned with her reelection above all else. She endorsed Joe Biden when it cost her nothing to do so, and is avoiding an endorsement of Kamala Harris so Peltola’s reelection campaign is not associated with the unpopular and abrasive vice president.
Alaska can do better.
