Midterm Election Updates: GOP Acknowledges High Prices, Warns Democrats Would Be Worse

Four years after Mary Peltola ended a nearly half-century Republican hold on Alaska’s lone House seat, Alaska fisheries are again central to the campaign. In the Senate race, incumbent Dan Sullivan backs efforts to reduce accidental catches of juvenile salmon and halibut and targets Russian and Chinese fleets that he says undercut local fishermen. Peltola accuses Sullivan of favoring “Seattle-based factory trawlers” and proposes banning out-of-state trawlers that sweep the Bering Sea and process catch onboard. The stakes extend beyond politics: Alaska accounts for about 60% of U.S. wild seafood harvested, spanning 370-foot factory trawlers and Indigenous subsistence fishing. Rising diesel costs and NOAA budget cuts are also shaping voter concerns.