Alaska Public Media Alaska's news source and co present debate for the state 2024 U.S. House, moderated by Lori Townsend and Rebecca Palsha.

Good evening.

Thank you for joining us for the 2024 debate for the state, for U.S. House.

We're coming to you live from Alaska Public Media.

I'm Lori Townsend.

And I'm Rebecca Palsha from Alaska's News Source.

Tonight, we pose a series of questions.

The top two contenders for Alaska's only U.S. House seat, incumbent Democrat Mary Peltola and Republican challenger Nick Begich.

While there are four candidates on this year's ballot, we invited only the two who earned at least 5% of the vote during the open primary in August.

Both campaigns have agreed on the following rules questions have time limits, and moderators may be asked to follow up questions based on answers.

Everyone gets equal time for regular questions and follow ups, and a bell will sound when your time is up.

The candidates will also have the opportunity to ask questions of each other.

We'd also like to hear from you, the audience.

Rank the issues that matter the most to you.

If you're watching on TV or online.

Scan the QR code on your screen.

It will take you to a live poll.

And for those listening on radio, go to Alaskapublic.org/ poll.

Before we get to the questions, let's introduce the candidates.

Incumbent Democrat Mary Peltola has served as Alaska's representative since September 2022, and is the first Alaska Native member of Congress.

Before that, she was a member of the Alaska House of Representatives.

She served on the Bethel City Council and as executive director of the Kusko River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission.

And Republican candidate Nick Begich III is an Alaskan businessman.

He comes from a family of Alaskan politicians.

He also started several businesses and worked for the Ford Motor Company, Alaska Policy Forum, and served as a board director for in to.

Now on to the questions.

We'll start with one of the day's top stories.

The response to Hurricane Milton one week after another major hurricane hit Florida.

We know climate change is causing more extreme weather events everywhere, including Alaska.

This is making homeowners insurance less affordable, and in some states, it's increasingly unavailable.

Does the federal government have a role to play in solving this problem?

You'll have one minute to answer.

Mr. Baggett.

You'll go first.

Well, I do believe that we need to do more to lower insurance rates.

And the first thing that we can do is encourage competition.

Right now, the regulation to be an insurer is actually quite high because you have two layers of insurance.

You have the the retail insurer, and then you have the reinsurer and for people to become reinsurers, it's very difficult.

And it actually drives the cost of homeowner's insurance and other forms of insurance up by 15 to 30%.

So it's very important that we lower the barriers to competition in the insurance marketplace.

If we do that, we're going to have lower rates for insurance consumers.

All right.

Thank you.

Representative Peltola you have one minute.

Thank you.

My heart goes out to the people who are experiencing hurricanes in in Florida at this point.

And it seems as though it was just one right after another that we saw over the last week or so.

And Alaska is no stranger to our own natural disasters.

We've had landslides in three southeast communities over the years that have been deadly.

We had flooding in Juneau on August 5th, the same day as last year.

Last year I think two homes were impacted this year.

I think 300 homes were impacted and one of the things that we need to understand is that FEMA is currently funded to cover 16 natural disasters a year.

We year after year, we've seen double sometimes triple that amount.

We have got to make sure that our homes in Alaska are able to get coverage for flood insurance, landslide insurance, as well as earthquake insurance and, money for all disasters.

Thank you so much.

And John is one of the biggest issues for our current Congress.

With the Israel-hamas war now turning into a regional Middle East crisis and the ongoing Russian war in Ukraine.

If elected, will you vote to fund continued U.S. support for Ukraine and Israel?

One minute, Congresswoman Peltier, first.

Thank you.

The the conflict in Palestine and UN in Gaza is terrible.

It's a it's a real humanitarian crisis.

And as a mother of seven, as a grandmother of two, of course, I want peace and prosperity everywhere.

I think that it's really important that we continue to provide humanitarian relief wherever we can.

We need to make sure that people are getting adequate amounts of food and water and that, we are preventing as many, youth, you know, as many civilians from being killed as possible.

This region has has a long and bloody history.

I'm spending a lot of time listening to people who are experts in this field.

I do think it's important that we support Ukraine and their fight against Russia.

I think that they're fighting our war in many ways, and I do support the efforts that they're making.

I think that we need to make sure that any aid going to Gaza is for humanitarian purposes only.

And, Mr. Beckett, your turn.

Well, I do think that we need to continue to support our ally in the Middle East, Israel.

They've been a strong supporter of ours, and they are a counterweight to terrorism in that region of the world.

If we don't confront terrorism, their terrorism will confront us here.

So I think it's important to continue to support Israel in their efforts to stamp out terrorism in the region.

I also think that we need to make sure we're prioritizing the needs of Americans first.

We were recently in Kodiak for a fisheries debate, and one of the things that I've heard from people in the fishing industry in our state, fishing families that have been relying on disaster relief payments, waiting up to six years for those payments to be received.

We accelerated $200 billion for aid to Ukraine, but we are not accelerating the needs of Americans.

I want to make sure that we're putting the needs of Americans first, that we're not putting other people's wars on our national credit card, expecting future generations to pay for them.

So let's talk about the economy.

Mr.. Baggage, you've mentioned cryptocurrency as a way to protect what you call America's financial sovereignty.

What role are you suggesting that cryptocurrency should play in both the U.S. and Alaskan economies?

You have 30s.

Well, I think cryptocurrency provides a suite of opportunities, as as a hedge asset class for a devalued dollar.

What we've seen with the United States Congress over the last many decades is a lack of discipline, and that lack of discipline has resulted in the inflation that we're experiencing today.

It's important to have, a backup plan.

And I think that cryptocurrency can provide that.

It's a suite of innovative technologies that I'm excited about and I think offers a great alternative in the long run.

Should Congress continue to abuse the dollar?

Thank you.

Representative Peltola, do you believe cryptocurrency has a role to play in the Alaska and U.S. economies?

You also have 30s.

I do believe that crypto currency Bitcoin has a place in the American economy and in the Alaskan economy.

We need to be supporting innovation wherever we see it.

If there are more innovative ways to have currency, we need to capitalize on that.

If you go to any of the remote villages, what you see often is the same check being transferred around the community 50 times.

Sometimes.

That is the kind of unfortunate situation we have in many remote places.

And a quick reminder we want to hear from you about what issues mattered the most.

Follow the QR code on your screen or go to Alaska Public Dawgs poll that's poly, and fill out a quick survey about your priorities as a voter.

We'll be looking at those results later tonight.

So let's talk about Alaska's housing crisis.

This question is for both of you.

Between 2020 and 2023, the average price of a home in Alaska climbed to more than 20%.

What's specific policies would you support to make housing more affordable in Alaska?

You will have one minute, Congresswoman Petula.

Well, one of the things I think that we need to make sure we're doing is keeping the federal government open.

many programs are available for veterans, for first time homebuyers.

We need to make sure that we don't have a closed federal government impeding those kinds of transfers.

I think homelessness is a huge problem in Alaska, and we see it here in Anchorage.

40% of Alaska's homeless population are children.

They did not do anything to deserve that.

And we need to be working collaboratively at the federal, state and local level level to alleviate the homeless situation that we have right now.

I think that, we need to be looking at energy, utilities and figuring out ways to streamline that.

Streamline that.

I think permitting is a huge problem.

I think we need to have more land available from, anyone who will partner and make sure that we are providing low interest loans for future homeowners.

And, Mr. Baggett, you have one minute.

Well, I think here in Alaska, the issue is exacerbated by the fact that so much of our lands in this state are not in private hands.

When I travel to places like Ketchikan, I can tell you that there is land available there if it will simply be unlocked from our federal government, and to do more to unlock the federal government lands that they hold currently in Alaska and make those available, to people who would like to build homes.

And look, I think we do have a challenge.

We talk about the the prices of homes being up 20%, but the interest rates exacerbate that.

When you look at the home payment to the average home payment in Alaska, it's up over 100%.

And that is a huge problem for first time homebuyers.

I've met with many young people across Alaska who have said, look, I saved, I did everything right.

I've got my money for a down payment, but now I can't afford the payment for the home.

Once I put that down payment down.

So it's important that we have, lower interest rates in order to facilitate first time home buyers.

To follow up on that.

How do you get those lower interest rates then?

Yeah.

You know, I think pressure has to be mounted on the Federal Reserve.

What we saw was that their, their reaction, their response to, heated up economy was to raise interest rates.

That's a classic response.

But in this case, I don't think it was the appropriate one, because the root cause of the inflation that we've seen was excess money printing by the Federal Reserve.

The Federal Reserve went out in order to finance excess government debt.

They printed money in order to do that.

And that's a huge problem.

They should have pulled some of that liquidity by selling some of the T-bill holdings that they had in Congress.

When Bill tail, I want to give you 30s to respond to that as well.

I think that the federal government provides many different categories of low interest home loans, and we need to look at, broadening those.

I think that it's really important that we have interest rates that people can afford.

I don't agree with the proposal to give first time homeowners, homebuyers to a $25,000 check.

I think that will exacerbate the problem.

I think that we need to be looking more at interest rates.

Thank you.

Abortion rights have turned into one of this election's biggest issues.

There have been attempts in Congress to codify Roe v Wade after the US Supreme Court overturned the decision in 2022.

Would you support a federal ban on or a guarantee for the right to abortion?

Why or why not?

You have one minute for this answer.

This answer, Mr. Begich.

Your first.

So I would I would not support a federal ban or a federal guarantee.

I think that we need this decision with the states, and I don't think that people in Alaska want folks in DC deciding this issue for them.

There are thousands of miles away from us.

We can make our own decisions here in the state of Alaska.

And when we do, we do a great job of making those decisions.

So I believe in local control.

I think this is something that we need to decide locally.

And no, I would not support a ban or guarantee either way.

All right.

Thank you.

Miss Pitolo.

You have one minute.

I absolutely do not support a ban.

And I do believe in women's reproductive rights.

I trust women and I trust their doctors.

I don't think politicians have any business being in this discussion.

Anti-choice extremists are committed to making sure that there is a majority in Congress who will end abortion across our nation, and nobody wants that.

Nobody wants abortion.

It should be safe, legal and rare.

We should be doing everything we can to prevent unwanted pregnancies.

And meantime, we should be protecting the lives of women who have complicated medical situations.

Being pregnant and delivering a baby is one of the most lethal things a woman can do in her lifetime.

This is one of the deadliest propositions a woman can undertake.

Mary.

Good things can go wrong, and it is not anyone's place in DC or in the state legislature to get between a woman and her d Now, throughout this evening, we have video questions.

This first question comes from Amelia with Anchorage Youth Vote.

Let's watch it now.

Hi, I'm Amelia Brooks.

I'm a senior at Steller Secondary School, and.

I am a member of Anchorage Youth Vote, an initiative of the League of Women Voters of Anchorage.

Local youth want to know school.

Shootings.

Are an ongoing.

Tragedy across the country with no single easy solution.

With Alaska's high rates of gun ownership, what measures would you take to help ensure the safety of schools and youth serving communities?

How do you protect both the Second Amendment as well as our students and communities?

And you have one minute to answer.

Congresswoman pistola.

Okay.

This is a big concern.

And Bethel, Alaska, here in the state of Alaska, experienced the first school shooting in the nation.

And now they happen so frequently that there are multiple in a week.

The common thread throughout all of these terrible tragedies is a person, somebody who is inflicting this, who is isolated, who doesn't feel seen or heard.

We need to make sure that every child, every child in our community, every child in our school feels seen and heard.

We need to make sure that we don't have people in isolation, and we need to do as much as we can as gun owners, to protect and safeguard guns and ammunitions from getting guns and ammunition, from getting in the wrong hands.

And for those of us who grow up with firearms in our home hunting, we know the importance of gun safety.

We know that you don't ever point a gun at another person, and this is something that we've got to get our arms around.

And, Mr. Bhagat, your turn.

Well, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

That's our Second Amendment right.

And it's something that I believe strongly in.

Now, I have had the opportunity to travel throughout the state, and there are a number of competitive youth shooting leagues that I think really do a lot to help.

train youth on gun safety and responsible firearm ownership.

And I think that's really important.

I think it's something we need to continue to invest in.

There was a time here, during the Harris Biden regime over the last few years.

They actually said that and push forward a regulation that school districts that supported these programs and archery programs would be denied funding for their schools if they continue these programs.

That's wrong.

our delegation pushed back on it, and I'm proud of that.

I'm glad to see that.

but at the end of the day, I believe that that training responsible firearm ownership at an early age is a great way to push back against the risk that was just described.

I want to give you 30 seconds to follow up there.

Mr. Begich, would you support any sort of, limits, red flag laws, any sort of limits, background checks?

I don't support red flag laws.

And I'm on the record as saying that I don't support, red flag laws.

Look, I don't think we need to create databases of people who own firearms in our nation.

I think that's a big mistake.

I think that that is a slippery slope that leads ultimately to the erosion of our Second Amendment rights.

All right.

And representative Peltola, would you like 30s to follow up there?

Would you support any sort of limitations, red flag laws or anything of that nature?

I think that we need to look at what is already on the books.

We already have a system that is supposed to protect domestic violence victims, oftentimes those that does not happen.

Many of the perpetrate ers who have executed these terrible executions, there have been warning signs and those warning signs were ignored.

I think that we need to look at all of the ways that we can protect our community, and we need to have trust and a discussion among all user groups.

But there has to be trust.

All right.

Thank you.

Let's get specific about mental health resources.

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, more than 40% of adults in Alaska reported symptoms of anxiety or depression, but over a quarter of them were unable to get needed counseling or therapy in 2021.

Name concrete steps you could take in Congress to increase the availability of mental health care in Alaska.

You have one minute, Mr.. Baggage you can start.

Well, I think we see the effects of, an untreated mental health population with the homelessness crisis that we're experiencing here in Alaska.

So many of the people that are going through homelessness, right now are suffering, struggling with mental health issues.

And I believe that right now, what we're seeing is all these people have been on that are on the streets today.

They could have been helped at a much earlier point and it would have cost society less.

It would have made their lives better.

We've got to do a better job at early detection and intervention of mental health issues, and I think that's something we need to invest in, both as a state and a nation.

I think it's our responsibility to do so.

I think we also need to make sure that we're investing in workforce development for mental health professionals.

Right now, it's very difficult in Alaska to find sufficient numbers of mental health professionals to treat the number of people that are reaching out for help, and when they can't find that help, they turn to drugs, they turn to behavioral characteristics that are not conducive to a solid society.

Thank you, Mr. Begich.

Congresswoman Toler, you have one minute.

I think that one of the key pieces to this is making sure that we have good internet throughout the state.

We've invested $2 billion in this effort.

You might not have noticed lately, but we are improving our broadband across the state.

I know that some people think that there's a stigma in talking about mental health, in seeking out, somebody to talk to about your mental health.

I think that we need to start talking about wellness.

And, and many of our young people have overcome this stigma that I think in, in younger generations, the same stigma isn't there that has been there in the past.

I think that we need to make sure that we have wellness programs in all of our schools at all levels.

We need to help parents, find tools to promote wellness, with their kids.

I think that it's also really important that we're providing wellness for our soldiers and our veterans.

These are some of our most vulnerable people, as long as well as our young people.

I want to follow up on that one with both of you.

How do we get these programs?

We don't have the beds in Alaska.

And how do we pay for these?

Well, I was even thinking about mental health as not just inpatient beds.

I think that it's important that all of us be working on our mental health, especially when you live in a state with as much darkness as we have and and potential isolation.

I think that this should be on the top of everyone's mind.

what was the question again?

Rebecca?

And how would you pay for them.

For the for the beds?

We need treatment beds in a host of areas.

alcohol treatment, opioid a treatment, mental health treatment.

Thank you.

Sorry.

Mr.. Baggage.

Yeah.

Well, I think, you know, the founders of our state foresaw this as a potentia And that's why they created the mental health trust.

And the mental health trust was granted a million acres of land.

And most of that land is still in the trust.

And I think we've got to do more to unlock the potential of that land.

Some of it has, timber potential, some of it has mineral potential.

Some of it's just great land and it needs to be disposed of.

That money needs to be used for its original intended purpose, to help those with mental health issues.

So we want to move on now to Alaska's addiction crisis.

Deaths because of overdoses spiked to an all time high in Alaska last year, despite a national declining trend.

What would you support at the federal level to lower these rates in Alaska?

You have one minute, Congresswoman.

Again, I think that making available, wellness programs is a huge piece of this.

I think that with the terrible influx of fentanyl through our southern border and into every community in Alaska, fentanyl has impacted every family one way or another in Alaska.

And we need to make sure that we have protections at the border to, prohibit that, that fentanyl from coming across the border.

And I think that we need to to really, arm people with the, the antidote to fentanyl overdoses and heroin overdoses.

I think that this is an important piece to us, to it, but I, I really lean back on making sure that we're teaching our young people positive ways of dealing with stress, positive ways of soothing, stressful situations, and not resorting to substance abuse.

Our next two questions will be specific to each.

Oh, I'm so sorry.

Yeah.

Pardon me.

All right.

So, this is an important issue to me.

The fentanyl crisis in Alaska has taken far too many lives.

Far too many lives.

there's a friend of mine, Athena Fulton, who's a mom who lost her son to a fentanyl overdose.

And it's a heartbreaking story.

It's heartbreaking.

And there's so many stories like that across our state and our nation.

And, you know, the challenges that we do not have a secure southern border.

So many of these drugs.

And it's not just fentanyl.

So many of these drugs are coming across our southern border and they're impacting people's lives.

They're destroying people's families, they're killing youth.

And, we can't allow it.

We've got to have a secure border.

And that's why I, you know, in Congress, should you elect me?

My commitment to you is to always support Americans first, prioritize the people of our nation first.

Make sure that our borders are secure and do everything we can to stop these substances from entering our homes.

I want to follow up on that one as well.

Again, in Alaska specifically, we are hearing reports that, cartels and and drug dealers specifically come to Alaska because the prices are so much higher here and they can make so much more money.

So how do you address that federally that impacts Alaska to keep these drugs out of our state?

Mr.. Mr.. Baggage.

You know, these drugs, initially, they come across the border, and then they actually will often enter, the mail system, the United States Postal Service, they'll they'll be, sent up through drug mules who are carrying these things on their person when they enter the airports.

I think we've got to do more to interdict those drugs, in the, in the post office and at the airports, you know, and when you enter a number of other countries around the world, you see, they use drug dogs heavily.

We need to make sure we're investing in those programs in order to stop those drugs from entering our state.

And Congresswoman Lee of 30s, if you'd like it.

Yes.

I think a huge piece of this is examining packages and at the post office, as well as through UPS and Fedex, we I toured the Fedex facility and they have a robust customs, process where they're examining suspicious packages.

And I know that we that a lot a lot of Alaskan communities are specifically targeted because, they can make more money.

I think that the state of Alaska's want team, drug prevention programs are really critical.

Thank you.

Now, our next two questions will be specific to each candidate.

With a one minute answer, their opponent will have an opportunity for a 32nd response.

Mr. Begich, a bill in Congress that would have strengthened border security, died in Congress this session.

It had bipartisan support and approval from Border Patrol officials.

Critics say it died after former President Trump told Republicans not to pass it.

Would you have voted yes or no on this bill and why?

You have one minute.

You know, I would not have voted for that specific bill.

There were several pieces of legislation that Republicans on the House side offered up, including the Secure Border Act of 2023, something that Mary Peltola voted against.

At the end of the day, we have to make sure that these bills aren't just aren't just addressing one part of the problem.

Right.

That particular bill would have dramatically increased the number of border agents and turn them into immigration officials, in which we're continuing to bring these people in from foreign nations.

Upwards of 20 million people are in our nation illegally right now.

That is unacceptable.

These people are receiving free health care, free medical attention, free, housing, free transportation, free education.

And it's not free.

We're paying for it.

And so at the end of the day, any bill that's not going to fix that part of the problem is not an actual solution.

It exacerbates the problem.

Congresswoman pothole, you have 30s for a response.

Thank you.

I have voted for several bills that call for tougher enforcement.

I'm very proud of those votes.

I voted yes on condemning the president for his handling of the border, but I think that this issue has been mishandled by both parties.

It is now being used as a political football.

It should not be used as a football, especially when we have things like fentanyl coming across the border.

We've got to have new emergency authorities to shut down our border if it becomes overwhelmed, and we've got to have a faster system for asylum seekers.

Congresswoman Pill Tola, in April, you join the rest of the Alaska congressional delegation supporting Donlon Gold mine, but you oppose the mine.

When he ran for Congress in 2022, why did your position on the mine change?

You have one minute.

I really think it's important when we're looking at projects around the state, to listen carefully to the regional corporations that are involved in those projects and can benefit from them.

The Calista Corporation chose the land at near the Donlon site because of its mineral potential.

I think that it is as your representative in Alaska, for Alaska and DC.

I need to make sure that I'm upholding federal laws and the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act was a promise to Alaskans that the land that they selected, they could develop.

It seems that 50 years later, we've now turned our back on that promise and have put everything in front of regional corporations to to prohibit them from, resource development and the profitability of their own land.

And so I really think it's important that we listen to the stakeholders in the region and Alaska Native corporations and and.

Yep.

And mister back as you have 30s.

Well, I'm a full supporter of mining responsible mineral development in our state.

I tell people all the time, look, if you care about the earth, and I know that everyone in Alaska does, but if you care about the Earth, you would develop the resources of this Earth where it's done most responsibly and it's done most responsibly.

In Alaska, whether you're on the hard left, the hard right, or somewhere in the middle, you should be supportive, consistently supportive of mineral development in our state.

And I can tell you, if I get elected, I will not flip flop on this issue.

I will always be supporting Alaska's right to produce.

All right.

We have a couple more candidate specific questions.

These will be asked without an opponent.

Response.

Mr. Begich, during the recent vice presidential debate, Republican JD Vance declined to say whether Joe Biden was the winner of the 2020 presidential election.

Do you believe President Joe Biden legitimately won the election?

You have one minute.

Well, look, I believe Joe Biden won the election because he's the president today.

But what we have to look at is all of the things that were required in order for him to do that.

We saw a great deal of censorship on Google in their search results on social media, suppressing free speech in our nation.

I mean, these are the things that happened behind the scenes in order for Joe Biden to do what he did, we saw last minute changes under the guise of Covid emergency in how elections were administered in a number of swing states.

And so I think it's worth looking at that.

I think it's acceptable and reasonable for any American to question, hey, is this reasonable?

Is this what we expect in a free and fair election?

And I think the answer is a clear no.

And I hope we don't see those same tactics deployed here in the last few weeks of the campaign, because I think we need to make sure that our elections are open, they're free, they're fair, and that information is allowed to transmit between one person and another in our country.

So I want to follow up with you.

Are you saying the election was, fair and honest election, that he was legitimately elected president or not?

Look, I as I've stated he was he was elected president.

The techniques that were used in order to get him elected, I don't think they're legitimate.

I don't think suppressing free speech in our country is a legitimate mechanism in order to get elected.

And, you know, when you saw the Big Tech cooperate to eliminate the ability for conservatives to communicate, that's not legitimate.

But he won the election.

He's the president, and he's not going to be president here in just a few months.

Congresswoman, the data from ProPublica shows that you voted against your party more than all but three other Democrats in the House.

You were also the only Alaskan Democratic delegate to not vote for Kamala Harris at the national convention.

Why aren't you openly supporting your party's nominee for president?

You have one minute.

Well, I think it's really important that Alaskans, that Alaskans who represent all Alaska are not overly partizan.

I don't see the world through a partizan lens.

I see the world as an Alaskan, and I am constantly thinking about what is best for Alaska, what is best for the Alaskan people and that.

And if it's our economy, if it's regarding guns, I'm happy to vote against my party.

I think that, endorsing either of the presidential candidates is, you know, I think a lot of people would say, why would you endorse if you plan on working with either of them, whoever is elected, why would you use your time focused on a race you don't really have any control over?

Dog mushers.

Talk about running your own race.

I am running my own race, and I've got a full plate representing Alaska, which would be the 18th largest country in the world if we were our own country.

following up on that one, I guess just kind of a yes or no question.

Will you be voting for Kamala Harris?

It's a secret ballot.

And I think both of our presidential candidates have flaws.

I think that much of the concern that we have will be around who who are they choosing as their senior advisors.

And again, I think both candidates are flawed and I don't know why I would use up any of my gas on a race.

I don't have any control over.

All right.

Thank you for your responses.

We need to take a short break, but before we do, we'd like to remind you again that we want to hear which issues matter most to you.

Scan the QR code on your screen or go to Alaska Public Zorgo poll to fill out a survey on what matters to you as a voter.

We'll be reviewing those results later tonight.

After a short break, we'll return and allow the candidates to ask questions of each other.

I'm Eric Stone, Alaska Public Media's state government reporter.

And I'm Washington correspondent Liz Ruskin.

This election season, we've been touring the state to talk to Alaskans about the challenges they face and how they feel about their political choices.

The series is called The View from here.

It's part of the CPB funded initiative America Amplified.

The aim is to listen to Alaskans and center.

Our.

Reporting on what we hear.

Lots of people have talked about division in their communities, but Gerald Gable, a pilot from Palmer, said Partizan politics.

Feel a bit.

Different in Alaska.

People at my work that are probably we are probably pretty divided politically, I would guess, but we all get along because we all love Alaska and we all love to get outside and enjoy this great state.

We visited communities across the state and heard from dozens of Alaskans.

So what's on your mind this election season?

Learn more about the project and tell us what you think at Alaska Public.

Corgi.

The view from here.

Alaskans use ranked choice voting in all general elections.

And you may be wondering, how are my ranked choice votes counted?

Here's how it works.

Beginning on Election Day, the Division of Elections counts first choice votes until all ballots are received.

Once all ballots are counted, candidates with at least 50% plus one vote win their race.

If no one gets 50% plus one, the candidate who gets the fewest first choice votes is eliminated.

Then tabulation starts in rounds.

If your first choice was not eliminated, your vote stays with them and gets counted in the next round.

If your first choice was eliminated, your second choice is now counted.

If you only voted for one candidate, your vote also stays with them, even if they are eliminated.

This keeps happening in rounds until two candidates remain, and the one with the most votes wins.

Learn more about ranked choice voting@elections.alaska.g Welcome back to our 2024 debate for the state for Alaska's U.S. House seat.

Now it's your turn.

What questions do you two have for each other?

Candidates will have no more than 15 seconds to ask their question, followed by a one minute response from the opposing candidate and a 32nd rebuttal.

Representative Peltola you answered the last question before our break, so you may ask the first question.

No.

Okay.

Nick Begich.

You are one of eight candidates, eight challengers that the Freedom Caucus has invested in.

Do you think that Alaskans want someone who will spend their time in DC, engaged in Twitter fights, voting out speaker after speaker?

Look, I am not an obstructionist.

I think that we need to get work done, and we need to be serious about the work that is happening in DC.

And, you know, the work that's been happening in DC is not good.

It's resulted in inflation.

It's it's made it harder for people to stay in Alaska, as we see 67 now executive orders issued by the Biden and Harris team targeting Alaska specifically.

It's making it harder and harder for Alaskans to make a living.

It's making it harder and harder for Alaskans to stay here.

And you know, I don't think that we need to be supporting an agenda that's obstructionist.

I think what we need to do is make sure that government is staying in its lane, is doing what it's supposed to do constitutionally, that it's balancing budgets, that it's protecting the American people, and that it's putting the needs of the American people first.

And when it's not doing that, it's incumbent on people to stand up who have been elected to represent Americans from across the country and say, hey, this isn't working.

And that's what I'm going to do for Alaska.

Congresswoman, would you like 30 seconds to rebut?

Yes.

I would not categorize the Freedom Caucus as working to stabilize government or keep it funded.

Every time I turn around, we're on the precipice of a federal government shutdown, which which really affects every Alaskan.

Everything from the debt ceiling to the continuing resolution.

We are right now in a placeholder on our, continuing resolution that will hopefully be revisited again in November because of the Freedom Caucus, there have been two motions to vacate the speaker, which puts us at a deadlock.

All right.

Thank you.

Mr. Begich, you may now ask your question.

You have 15 seconds.

The average salary for a person in Alaska is about $63,000 a year.

So it would take an average Alaskan about 32 years to earn $2 million.

Fair shake is a crypto PAC that spent $2 million supporting your campaign.

Can you explain to Alaskans what is cryptocurrency and how does it work?

Well, I know it starts with blockchain and I am not an expert on crypto, but I do believe in innovation.

I do believe in creating ways for people to buy and sell goods in a quick way, and not have to rely on using the same check over and over within a community to not have to rely on dollar dollar bills, to not have to rely on writing checks or exorbitant, portions when you're doing transfers using Venmo and other apps.

I think that one of the most exciting things that we are seeing in our country is the innovation around this kind of currency, and I want to see and I want to learn more about it, of course, but I want to see where this goes.

I think there like you said, you support it.

And, I just think it's good to embrace innovation whenever Americans are being innovative.

Mr. Begich, 30 seconds.

I agree, I think it's great to embrace innovation.

I just find it amazing that someone can receive $2 million in a campaign for something they know very little about.

And I wanted to raise this question because I wanted to show Alaskans, look, this is how people buy votes in Congress.

This is what they do.

They fund a candidate.

They know they can they can rely on for their specific pieces of legislation, whether they know anything about it or not.

All right.

Next, a question from the Alaska Black Caucus.

Let's watch that now.

Hi, I'm Celeste Hodge.

Groudon, president and CEO of the Alaska Black Caucus.

My question is what specific initiatives do you propose to address economic disparities and create opportunities for underrepresented communities?

And, Congresswoman Patel, you have one minute to answer.

Can you repeat the question again?

What programs do I.

She says, what purposes?

What specific initiatives do you propose to address economic disparities and create opportunities for underrepresented communities?

Specific opportunities.

The thing that I'm working on is an interested in is not specific small groups of people, discrete groups of people.

I want to work for all Alaskans.

This job is to represent every Alaskan in the state.

And I think that the best way to do that is look at our collective challenges.

Things like high cost of heating, high cost of energy, high cost of groceries, extremely high costs of air travel.

We need to be embracing everything we can, whether it's, promoting natural resource development to help make sure we have good, livable wage jobs and providing energy in a clean and, well-regulated way, in a humane way to our state's residents.

And if we can export that to the rest of the world.

I think that it's important that we are really intentional about making sure that everybody benefits from the programs that we work on.

Mr. Beckett, you have one minute.

I think it's so important that everyone have a seat at the table.

No matter where you started in life, no matter who you are, what community you're part of, what ethnic group you're part of, what religion you have.

It's important because that's the promise of America.

America's promise is a dream that anyone can make it here.

With enough hard work and right living and making good decisions, you can make it in America.

We've got to do more to ensure that people have access to high quality education, particularly here in Alaska.

We need to make sure that our university system is producing enough graduates and graduates in the right fields to support our industries here, so we don't have to look outside of Alaska.

We can do that inside Alaska.

That's important to me.

I think it's also important that we take those opportunities and cascade them down to K through 12.

There's so much disparity in our education system, K through 12 in the state of Alaska.

We need to make sure that every kid, no matter where they are rural, urban, rich or poor, has the same opportunity for a great education.

To follow up on that one.

In her question, she did ask what specific, specific initiatives do you propose?

I'd like you both to have 30s to answer that one, please.

Mr. Beckett, you want to go first?

Sure.

So, look, I think we need to make sure that the Department of Education is removing so many of the restrictions on the funding that they're providing to the state.

They're being too prescriptive in Alaska.

We have diverse communities throughout Alaska.

And when the federal government hands down standards, so-called, to Alaska, they're taking up valuable classroom time, removing the creativity of an educator and being able to adapt a curriculum for those kids.

And I think we need to remove those roadblocks to a high quality education in Alaska.

And, Congresswoman Peltola, specific initiatives.

You know, I focus so much of my time on, like I said, making sure that, programs are available to every Alaskan, regardless of ethnicity or, interest group, specific initiatives.

I do think that education helps level the playing field.

I also think it's important to have a diverse group of leaders to lead by example and show the gorgeous mosaic of diversity that Alaska has to offer.

All right.

We want to return to Alaska's economy.

Mr. Begich, Alaska's delegation is against the proposed merger between Kroger, the parent company of Fred Meyer, and Albertsons, the parent company of Cars and Safeway.

Do you support this merger?

Why or why not?

You have one minute.

You know, I think it's is really important when we look at, blocking mergers or supporting mergers, we got to look at the competitive environment.

And here in Alaska, we need to make sure that the competitive environment remains.

It helps keep costs down for people all over the state.

And when you lose that competition, when you lose that ability for people, to compete on price and service, you end up driving the costs up.

It's that simple.

So I think we need to make sure that any merger that goes through between these two important grocery chains preserves competition in our state.

And I know that, as proposed under the merger, that some of the stores would be sold to another operator that would do some things to preserve competition.

But there's more than just what we see at the retail level.

There's also things that are happening back in the supply chain that that consolidation can end up costing consumers more.

So for me, I think you need to take a close look at it.

I need to take a closer look at it to ensure that competition remains in place.

To follow up on that one then as well.

Do you support it?

You know, I, I support the ability for firms to merge.

Okay.

We need to make sure that that ability occurs.

But we have to protect the consumer as well.

And so like I said, I think it's really important that competition and environment for competition remain throughout the entire grocery supply chain in Alaska.

One of the things we got to recognize is that Amazon has dramatically disrupted this entire industry.

And so a number of the goods that you would purchase at a store or you're now buying online.

So we have to think about that as well.

Congresswoman Patel, you've oppose this merger.

If it does go through.

What requirements would need to be between the companies and the FTC to protect consumers from higher prices?

You have one minute.

This mega-merger not only threatens Alaska, but it threatens, the the the balance across the nation.

I have been the leader on halting the Albertsons Kroger merger.

We worked with the FTC and we and the FTC has talked about our new the new model they were exposed to and hearing from stakeholders.

And I'm really proud of the work that I've done on making sure that Alaskans can talk about this merger and the negative impacts we saw when Cars and Safeway merged a number of years back.

There was a lot of negative fallout.

A number of local grocery stores closed, really impacting neighborhoods, really impacting communities.

And I think that we need to know how many stores would possibly be divested out, you know, not under the merger.

We need to know where those stores are and what the game plan is for that community.

We also need to make sure that people have bargaining rights as this merger goes forward.

This large and powerful company.

All right.

Before we continue with our questions, we'd like to remind you again that we want to hear which issues that matter most to you.

Scan the QR code on your screen or go to Alaska Public Dawgs poll to answer a survey and what you care about as a voter.

Next, we turn to public safety.

The need for policing in rural Alaska is a long standing problem.

In 2019, then U.S. Attorney General William Barr declared the lack of law enforcement in rural Alaska an emergency and made federal funds available for all citizens still don't have adequate protection from lawlessness.

What would you propose to fix this chronic problem?

You have one minute, representative Peltola.

I served on the Budget Subcommittee for Corrections and Public Safety when I when I served in Juneau in the legislature.

I think that this is the most pressing issue for many people across Alaska.

And I think that it is critically important that when the federal government, has an overture of $1 million, that that million dollars isn't taken out on the back end by the state, if the funding needs to go through the Bureau of Indian Affairs or some other federal agency to make sure that we're not getting shortchanged and seeing no progress whatsoever whatsoever, I think that, those are the strategies that we need to employ.

I do think that we need federal money and federal help on with with our, public safety issues.

We have over 200 communities and just a handful of them have any public safety whatsoever.

And we have seen a real diminishment in the, workforce that we have, whether it's municipal, police officers, tribal or state.

Mr. Begich, you have one minute.

Yes.

I think there are a number of challenges with with public safety in rural Alaska.

And the smaller the community, the more challenges there are.

And that's because it's very difficult to scale that support effort at a smaller level.

I think it's important that we make sure that criminals are locked up.

If you go out to Court View and you've ever looked to see some of the rap sheets of people that you might encounter on a through the community, you'll see some people have been charged with crimes 30, 40, 100 times.

The rap sheets go on and on.

These people need to be put in jail and they need to stay in jail.

If you want to clean up the streets, you have to remove the criminals and then start the rehabilitation process.

We also need to make sure that we are pressing federal charges in many of these cases, with domestic violence and violent crime.

We need these people to be put into federal prison, and that is something that the federal government needs to do.

And those are positions for federal prosecutors that I would work harder to fund.

So let's talk about funding for projects like roads and bridges.

Should Alaska's congressional delegation get as much federal money for infrastructure as it can, or should it forgo some funding to avoid adding to the deficit?

Mr.. Baggage, you have one minute.

Oh, this is a this is a really important question.

And it's important because we're both we're both Alaskans and Americans.

And so it's really important is that we're considering both we're a young state.

We need to invest in infrastructure.

And we need to make sure that infrastructure is real infrastructure.

I'm talking about new roads, bridges, ports, harbors, and yes, broadband.

But we need to make sure that that broadband is, is, involves satellite as well.

So many of these communities that are reliant on broadband solutions have skipped and gone straight to satellite.

So I think it's really important that when we invest, we invest with hard, real, true infrastructure that we're not mislabeling bills, to try to get some other set of priorities passed, which has been happening a lot in the Congress, things like the Inflation Reduction Act, which is really a climate change bill.

So I am a full supporter of investing in infrastructure.

But I do believe if we're going to make an infrastructure investment, make sure that it's real infrastructure.

Representative Peltola one minute.

I wholeheartedly believe in investing in infrastructure.

All of our great leaders in Alaska worked on this and made significant headway.

we live, like I said, in a huge state.

It's not even the size of the states.

In the United States, we are the size of a of a country, of a medium sized country.

And a lot of the infrastructure that has been handed over to municipalities from the state needs upgrades, with the inclement weather that we have here, with the challenges, with just time, we have to make sure that our, boat harbors are being maintained.

Our ports, our bridges, our roads.

I and we have these generational bills that were passed before my time in Congress.

But I've made sure that we are staying competitive.

These are all competitive grants.

I hired a woman in my office named Aurora, who's helping communities and different agencies look through these generational bills to find ways that Alaska can capitalize on those investments.

Next up, we have our final video question of the evening from AARP Alaska.

After the video, Mr. Begich, you will have 30s to respond.

If Washington doesn't take action in ten years, Social Security could be cut by 20% or more.

Do you see a path in Congress to a bipartisan solution to protect Social Security?

Mr. Begich 30s.

Absolutely.

I am a 100% full supporter of Social Security.

Despite what you may have seen on ads and on TV, I 100% support ensuring that we meet the commitments that have been made.

My comments in the past have been taken out of context, and what I have actually said is the federal government has taken the Social Security Trust fund, and they have spent it on current operating expenditures.

That's a savings account for our seniors, and it's being reappropriated for for a deficit spending.

That's wrong.

And I think we got to do more to protect it.

Representative Peltola 30s to you.

I wholeheartedly support Social Security.

Every elder that I know relies on social Security, and I don't see that need going away any time soon in the state of Alaska or around our country.

This was a promise that we made.

This is, something that we can never go back on.

I do see opportunities to work in a bipartisan way to fix this, as long as it's not being used as a political football in campaigns.

I think that this is one of the most sacred promises that we have made, and I will do everything I can to uphold it.

All right.

We had two questions tonight for our poll.

The first asked you to rank your priorities as a voter, while the second asked if you'd already made up your mind as a voter.

So it looks like viewers have ranked right now economy as their top priority followed by reproductive rights and public safety.

All right.

And let's look at who the decisions about voting.

There was 201 people that said yes, they are going to vote.

32 said no, and one person does not plan to vote at all.

All right.

Now it is time for our closing statements.

And we did, draw from the hat.

So Mr. Mary Pelltola.

Congresswoman Peltola you have a minute for your closing statement.

Thank you.

I've been in this job for two years now, and it has been the honor of my life.

I believe firmly in deliverables, and that's what I've achieved.

Alaska in the last two years because of the role that I've played within the delegation, working closely with both of our senators, we saw Willow get approved for a second time.

We saw a president go back on his campaign promise, ignore his senior most advisors within his organization.

Because I was able to make compelling and convincing and winning arguments for the development of this project.

We curtailed Russian seafood imports.

I believe that, an issue that Dan Sullivan, our senator, has worked on for over ten years, I was able to get the president to issue an executive order to curtail that.

We've gotten $206.5 million for the energy rail grid.

We got an icebreaker thanks to the work that I've done.

We're working on halting the Albertsons, Kroger merger.

The list goes on.

Thank you, Mr. Begich.

Here.

Closing statement.

You have one minute.

We have a nation to save.

We have a country to save.

And at the end of the day, there's two groups in DC that have very different visions for this country.

You've got the hard left that seems to control the agenda of the Democrat Party.

They've issued 67 executive orders specifically targeting Alaska.

Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and their allies in Congress.

Like my opponent, have it out for our state.

That's the truth.

That's the facts.

And the reality is, if we want to open Alaska, we've got to do a better job at advocating for our state.

I was recently on the radio this week with Majority Leader Steve Scalise.

His commitment is in the first hundred days of the next Congress to ensure that Alaska's needs are prioritized in the Budget Reconciliation Act, that we push back against Joe Biden's agenda.

I want to represent you in Congress because I believe in the potential of Alaska.

And that concludes our U.S. House debate for the state 2024.

I'd like to thank our candidates for joining us.

Election day is November 5th, and we encourage every Alaskan to vote and make your voices heard.

For Alaska's News Source and Alaska Public Media.

Thank you for joining us.

Good night.

Good night.