Rude Sarah Palin Won’t Even Endorse Her Democratic Opponent Mary Peltola, Even Though Everybody Else Is

Well we didn’t ever think we’d be telling you that all the most well-known Republicans in Alaska are just in love with the Democratic congressional candidate there, but there you have it. In the regular election for Alaska’s sole House seat, Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola is running for a full term after she won the special election to replace GOP Rep. Don Young, who died.

Peltola won because Alaska now uses ranked-choice voting, and it turned out that when Alaskans were allowed to rank their preferences — hence the name “ranked-choice” — Peltola was the candidate that made the most Alaskans happy. Republicans bellyached and gnashed their teeth about it, including Palin, who lost, but everybody else thought it was pretty swell.

And now for the general election, it sounds like Mary Peltola will again be the candidate that makes the most Alaskans happy, if comments and endorsements from national Republicans (and also polls) are any indication. The convention for the Alaska Federation of Natives was this weekend, and Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski announced there that she would be ranking Peltola at the top of her ballot.

“Mary is a woman whose heart is as grounded in Alaska as anybody you’re going to find,” Murkowski told reporters after the event, wearing a gold-colored, paisley-patterned kuspuk, common Alaska Indigenous clothing Peltola gave her last year.

Asked if she would rank Peltola first on her ballot next month in Alaska’s new ranked-choice voting system, Murkowski paused. After a full 18 seconds, she said, “Yeah, I am.” She then mumbled, “I’m going to get in so much trouble.”

Asked to respond to Murkowski’s de facto endorsement, Peltola said, “I’m voting for her, so we’re even-steven.”

Murkowski’s opponent Kelly Tshibaka is verified batshit, so we can’t exactly say we’re mad to hear that Peltola is voting for Murkowski. (There’s not a Democratic candidate in the race, Alaska works different.) Also both Murkowski and Peltola are running against Donald Trump’s choices for Alaska, so godspeed.

Meanwhile, at the same event, it was Sarah Palin who looked at the group and said, “We are in Mary’s house” and just gushed over how much she loves her friend Mary Peltola. Again, Sarah Palin is running against Mary Peltola.

“We are in Mary’s house. I love her dearly and am proud of her, as all of you are.”

BUT.

But Palin was disappointed when a reporter told her that Peltola was Murkowski’s first choice for the House seat. “Wow. People all know how much I love Mary, and I certainly do,” Palin said, “but she represents planks and a platform that I don’t believe are in Alaska’s best interests.”

Way to be a team player, Sarah Palin. Won’t even commit to voting for your opponent. Asshole.

Palin added that “doggone it” and she just “wish[es] she’d convert on over to the other party.” Doggone it, Mary Peltola!

While Palin didn’t make like a common Lisa Murkowski and endorse Peltola, the Washington Post notes that Palin hasn’t been consistent in joining with the message of their other opponent, Republican Nick Begich, which is that they need to “rank the red” in order to keep Peltola from winning. (He means make sure to vote for him and Palin for both first and second choices.) Apparently there are some sore spots between them:

“Because I’ve thumped Nick three times now, and I’ll thump him again, he should have supported my candidacy,” she said in an interview.

Okeydoke!

Additionally, throwing their support behind Peltola’s race are some of the former staffers for late GOP Rep. Young, who have released a letter saying, in essence, that Peltola and her “pro-choice, pro-fish” campaign are better for Alaska and better for America then any of these other dicks. If you want specific quotes from them, they gave Insider a bunch of them. They don’t seem real impressed with the Republican field.

The Washington Post notes that Peltola’s favorables are by far the highest in her race according to Alaska Survey Research, which places her approval rating at 52 percent. Palin’s approval rating is 32 percent, and Begich is at 33 percent. Peltola, according to that poll and this one right here, should win again on the second round of vote-counting.