Alaska’s former U.S. Congresswoman Mary Peltola has a long history of missing key votes and skipping official proceedings while in elected office.

Now in the midst of a bid to unseat Republican Senator Dan Sullivan, Peltola’s absenteeism is making national news.

According to a new report from Fox News, the longtime liberal Democrat missed nearly one in five votes in the Alaska House of Representatives and over a third of the Bethel City Council meetings during her tenures in office.

In total, Peltola skipped 794 of 4,265 Alaska House votes over the ten years spanning 1999 to 2009. She then missed 22 of 60 Bethel City Council meetings from 2011 to 2013.

After easily advancing out of the Aug. 18 primary, Peltola is set to square off against Sullivan in the November ranked-choice voting general election.

Her lack of engagement on the local and state level, however, is becoming an issue.

“Mary Peltola just can’t be bothered to show up for work, missing hundreds of votes and years’ worth of sessions as a state legislator and municipal official, raising serious questions about her commitment to public service,” said Republican National Committee spokesperson Nick Poche in an Aug. 24 statement. “In total, the missing time equates to nearly three years.”

As Fox points out, Peltola’s habit of missing votes continued during her 2022-2024 term in the U.S. Congress, where she skipped 235 of 1,370 roll-call votes – 17.2%, according to GovTrack data.

Additionally, her critics have noted that Peltola failed to sponsor any successful bills or resolutions during her time in D.C. – not a single bill.

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