Republican Senator Dan Sullivan and Representative Nick Begich did not attend Friday's candidate forums during the Alaska Federation of Natives' annual gathering in Anchorage, breaking with tradition, the Alaska Beacon reports.
That left Democrat Mary Peltola, who is challenging Sullivan in a close race that could decide control of the US Senate, alone on stage. She used the forum to criticise a lawsuit filed that day by the Trump administration over the Senate contest, calling it corruption, and discussed subsistence hunting and fishing and the need to update federal fisheries law.
AFN leaders said Sullivan's campaign had cited security concerns and protests, but a campaign spokesman said that was not correct without giving another reason. Sullivan's campaign has itself criticised Peltola for missing other debates. This year's gathering was AFN's 60th convention, the largest representative meeting of Native peoples in the country.
Source: Alaska Beacon
