By admin 
Mary Peltola, a Democrat in a tight race that might determine control of the U.S. Senate, stood on stage at the Alaska Federation of Natives convention in Anchorage and threw some barbs at the candidate who was not there: incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan.
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Peltola, in a late-afternoon candidate forum on Friday, addressed the news shock of the day: a lawsuit filed by the Trump administration that aims to “not acknowledge a win if the incumbent does not win.”
“This is just flagrant, flagrant corruption, in my opinion,” Peltola said.
Earlier in the day, Peltola criticized the lawsuit, which President Donald Trump confirmed had been filed on his orders. Sullivan is “using his D.C. allies to try to keep himself in power and put his own interests ahead of Alaskans,” the Democratic candidate said in a Facebook message. She discussed the lawsuit in an interview on MSNBC as well. The Sullivan campaign has said it was surprised by the lawsuit.
In a break with past tradition, the incumbent senator declined to attend the AFN candidate forum, which in past campaign years has been one of the most high-profile candidate events. Also breaking with tradition was U.S. Rep. Nick Begich, R-Alaska, who declined to attend the House candidate forum also held by AFN on Friday.
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Exactly why Sullivan was not present at the Friday afternoon AFN forum was unclear. AFN leaders said his campaign had cited “security” issues and protests. However, campaign spokesman Nate Adams said that was not correct, but did not specify the reason for Sullivan skipping the Friday forum.
Sullivan did speak at the AFN convention the day before, delivering a wide-ranging speech lasting for over 40 minutes that touted his work in the Senate. It was one of the speeches delivered by the three sitting members of Alaska’s congressional delegation; such speeches are routine during the annual AFN conventions.
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