Two former aides say Alaska Democrat Mary Peltola used the n-word in separate 2024 episodes, claims her Senate campaign brands an outright lie from a right-wing blog.

Two former staffers who worked in Mary Peltola’s House office and on her campaign allege the Alaska Democrat repeatedly used the n-word last year, Breitbart reported based on an Alaska Landmine account. Both spoke on condition of anonymity, citing fear of retaliation, and described separate episodes in 2024.

Peltola, a Democrat and former U.S. representative, is now running for Senate against Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan in a contest that could help decide control of the chamber. Her campaign did not answer the Landmine before publication. Afterward it issued a flat denial.

The campaign called the report “an outright lie published by a right-wing gossip blogger.”

"Mary would never use this word, which is a vile slur with a painful, hateful history,"

the campaign added.

Empty tables, then an angry outburst

One former aide tied the first alleged use to a dinner on October 25, 2024. The event honored roughly 4,000 African American soldiers who helped build the Alaska-Canada Highway during World War II. Army veteran Ed Wesley, a former Anchorage NAACP president and former commander of American Legion Post 34, promoted it.

Per the aide, Wesley pressed the campaign to buy tables and promised to fill them. The campaign purchased eight tables at $1,000 each. An October 18, 2024 FEC filing shows $8,000 paid to Eventbrite for tickets. The tables sat mostly empty. Peltola did not attend.

When staff later told her about the turnout, the aide said she grew angry, called Wesley a “scammer,” and declared, “I can’t believe that n****r.”

That same staffer also alleged Peltola had previously used a homophobic slur when referring to gay staffers and said the language had left them “numb.”

Democrats have moved quickly to police racial language when it comes from outside their own ranks, including the recent backlash over a slur aimed at Hakeem Jeffries. The Peltola allegations put the same standard back on a party figure in a high-stakes race.

Spring meeting and a deleted channel

A second former staffer described another episode in spring 2024. During a campaign meeting, opposition research turned up a YouTube channel run by Peltola’s son, Job Nelson. The channel featured self-produced rap music that frequently used the n-word. Staffers said the channel was later deleted.

The second aide alleged Peltola herself used the n-word multiple times in that meeting. No one confronted her, the staffer said, out of fear.

"It shocked everyone in the room,"

the second staffer told the Landmine.

The Landmine account landed weeks after a New York Times report that described a pattern of angry outbursts, a shove, and slurs across Peltola’s years in office. The staffer claims add specific 2024 episodes and named settings inside her own operation.

Internal Democratic fights already strain the party’s Senate messaging, from progressive primary winners resisting Chuck Schumer’s leadership to public splits on foreign policy. A Senate candidate facing anonymous workplace allegations of this kind only sharpens the contrast voters see between rhetoric and conduct.

What the record does and does not show

The two aides remain unnamed. Exact rooms and the precise spring meeting date are not detailed in the available reporting. No on-the-record response from Wesley or Nelson appears in the account. The campaign’s position is absolute denial; the staffers’ position is firsthand recollection offered under anonymity.

Documentable pieces that do sit in public view include the October 18 FEC filing amount, the dinner’s purpose, Wesley’s prior civic roles, Nelson’s deleted channel as described by the staffers, and Peltola’s decision not to attend the event her campaign underwrote.

House Democrats have also fractured in full view on Israel policy and related votes, a split that left the party’s seams showing on the floor. Alaska’s Senate race now adds a personnel controversy that tests whether the same party applies one rule to its critics and another to its own candidates.

Peltola is asking Alaska voters to elevate her from the House to the Senate. The staffers say the person they worked for used language her campaign now calls vile and unthinkable. The campaign says the whole story is a lie. Both versions cannot be true.

Voters can weigh anonymous workplace claims against a categorical denial. They can also notice how rarely elite Democrats face sustained scrutiny when the ugly words are alleged inside their own shops rather than shouted from the other side of the aisle.