00:00The message that you get from a lot of these political ads and the political rhetoric
00:05is that half of us should be enemies with the other half.
00:09There is this idea that half of America are our enemy.
00:17No one in America, no American, no Alaskan is my enemy.
00:25This is a loud mic.
00:26I am so excited to be here.
00:30We just got back from Juneau where we had another wonderful rally.
00:34But this, you guys, I have never been part of a campaign that has felt this good.
00:40I have never felt an election cycle that has felt this good.
00:45And it's to a person.
00:46I look out in the crowd here filled with public servants, filled with people who have been
00:53working at various levels of government, helping us make our community better.
00:58I'm looking out across this room and seeing people who have put up hundreds of yard signs
01:04for me, people who have knocked hundreds of doors, people who have made hundreds of phone
01:12calls.
01:13I see this across the room.
01:15And this room makes me so proud because the diversity in here is noticeable.
01:21We have every kind of Alaskan in this room.
01:32You know, usually when we have political events, it's mostly people my age and retired, right?
01:41Because we're dialed in.
01:43Well, this cycle, we have this whole other demographic that has joined us.
01:48We have small children.
01:50Yes, we have teenagers.
01:53We have young adults.
01:55Everybody is involved in this race.
01:57I had a young, a little boy at AFN say, you're Mary Peltola.
02:02You're real.
02:06And then he said, you're playing against Dan Sullivan, aren't you?
02:11I said, yes, I am.
02:12And I'm going to beat him.
02:25And I say that with all of this joy that I have in me.
02:29It's just overflowing.
02:30When I see people coming out to rallies on a Friday, is this a Friday?
02:35Yeah.
02:36On a Friday night, on a Friday night when it's stormy.
02:39You guys need to be battening down your hatches.
02:41We've got a windstorm out here.
02:43And here you are celebrating the massive accomplishments of this entire campaign.
02:49It makes me so happy.
02:50How many people in here have already voted?
02:56Yes, that makes me so happy.
02:59But there are people out there who have not voted, who don't have a plan to vote,
03:06who are so turned off by the smear campaigns and the garbage and, you know, the accusations, the hollow accusations.
03:17And so they're not paying attention.
03:19And it's really up to us to remind people why we need to get out and vote.
03:23We've got to get out and vote.
03:24This is a very close race, and it's going to come down to who shows up.
03:29And seeing this room of 300 people, we had to get more staff down here to help with parking.
03:35And that is a great sign as far as I'm concerned.
03:39Yes, should have got a shuttle.
03:41We know for next time.
03:42But, no, and I've been telling this the last couple stops I've made.
03:46I don't know how many of you have ever watched Parks and Recreation.
03:51Leslie Knope is my spirit animal.
03:54So Leslie Knope, you know, one of the first episodes, she's like so jazzed, and it's just a picture of
04:01her,
04:01and she's like, I'm so glad there's so many of you.
04:03This is so exciting.
04:04Thank you for coming out.
04:05Thank you for caring about Pawnee.
04:07And then it zooms out, and there's three people.
04:12You know, that's why we didn't have a shuttle, because we're kind of used to that.
04:15That's our muscle memory.
04:16But this is completely different.
04:18This is completely different.
04:19And it's completely different because these are really serious times.
04:25Alaskans have very serious issues that we're facing now at the end of October,
04:31and we know we are going to be facing for the rest of this winter.
04:34We have got to get our arms around this Congress.
04:37We have to have a Congress that wants to work for us to make our lives easier and not harder.
04:51I love that I almost tripped over a drum.
04:53You know, it's so, I mean, these events are so great.
04:56We have live music.
04:57Bands actually want to come out and be part of this.
05:00It's amazing.
05:03But bands know this is serious times.
05:06I mean, everybody knows.
05:07We are stretched too thin.
05:10We have a Congress, half millionaires and billionaires,
05:14who are only interested in making their friends even richer.
05:18These are, the level of wealth is unimaginable of the people,
05:22and it's never going to be enough.
05:24They're just going to keep taking from us.
05:26One of the most concerning issues, I mean, yes, we are very, very focused on the price of gas,
05:32the price of stove oil, the price of groceries, the price of transportation.
05:37Everything is going up and up and up.
05:39But one of the things we don't talk enough about in this campaign is Social Security.
05:51Social Security is a contract that was made with Americans decades ago,
05:58and we believe in this contract.
06:01We want this contract to endure because so many Alaskans, their whole retirement depends.
06:07The foundation of it is Social Security.
06:09This affects every single one of our families.
06:13My father-in-law, he calls me like three times a week.
06:16Don't forget to talk about Social Security.
06:18He is obsessed with Social Security because that is his retirement.
06:22I am obsessed with Social Security.
06:24Whoever wins this Senate seat for the next six years will be the number one issue, in my opinion,
06:33is preserving and protecting Social Security.
06:47And, you know, one of the things that's been bothering me the last couple days,
06:52as with a bunch of people, but I am so deeply offended by these accusations
06:58about having any involvement with anyone else's candidacy.
07:02Of course I want fewer candidates in the primary.
07:06Of course I want fewer candidates in the primary.
07:09I'm not out soliciting more competition.
07:12In 2022, I was in a field of 48, and I still beat Santa Claus and Sarah Palin.
07:28I know we can beat Dan Sullivan because every step of the way,
07:32even before I got in this race, my poll numbers were higher than his.
07:36I, yes.
07:41Every step of this race, I've had more name recognition than Dan Sullivan.
07:46How is that even possible?
07:53No, I do not need any help winning this race except by all of you in this room
07:59and the massive amounts of support we have across the state,
08:03from Utqiagvik to Metla Katla.
08:05We have so much support.
08:07There are people knocking doors in every small community.
08:10There are people getting other people out to vote, providing rides,
08:14you know, really reminding your kids and their friends.
08:17I want to acknowledge, speaking of kids, I have two of mine here tonight,
08:21Conrad and Van Kapsner.
08:27They both did, I was going to say hard time, but it was good time.
08:32They both have served in the Coast Guard very honorably.
08:38They were both aviation electronic technicians.
08:47But this is the Alaskan ethos, is helping other people, helping your neighbors,
08:54helping make things better, leaning in on search and rescues.
08:59And one of the biggest concerns I have with where we are right now,
09:03not only are we pretending that our adversaries are our allies and our allies are our adversaries,
09:12but we're also, you know, the message that you get from a lot of these political ads
09:18and the political rhetoric is that half of us should be enemies with the other half.
09:24There is this idea that we, you know, half of America are our enemy.
09:32No one in America, no American, no Alaskan is my enemy.
09:45We are so blessed in America because over 60% of Alaskans are independent, nonpartisan, undeclared.
09:54Yes.
10:01And smart.
10:03Yes.
10:04Yes.
10:05Yes.
10:08No, but even those of us who belong, who have a political affiliation,
10:13we don't want to hear that partisan rhetoric.
10:15We want to know how you're going to make our lives better.
10:18We want to know that you care about us.
10:20I care about Alaska.
10:22I care about the children in Alaska.
10:24I care about the elders in Alaska.
10:26I care about the working class in Alaska, the working families.
10:38I know we have somebody from Nome in here because I can hear a walrus.
10:44My favorite, my favorite crowd call.
10:52No.
10:54I am just here to say I am so proud of Alaska.
10:58I'm so proud of Alaskans.
10:59I'm so proud of our open primary where every Alaskan has a say and who's going to be on that
11:06ballot.
11:08Yes.
11:17We just have four more days and we can do it.
11:21We can handle the attack ads.
11:23We can handle the smear campaigns.
11:25We can handle the weather.
11:27We can handle the weather.
11:28We have got this election.
11:31We know we can do this.
11:33We know we're going to win.
11:34We just have to make sure everybody turns out.
11:37It's going to be this is a battle of numbers whose supporters are getting out and voting.
11:42And I just have every confidence in the world that this is Alaska will prevail.
11:50Alaskans will prevail.
12:02It just makes me so happy.
12:05I'm so proud to be standing up here in front of all of you, my friends, my neighbors, people
12:10I've known for decades, lifelong friends.
12:14This is what Alaska means to me.
12:17I'm going to die here, right?
12:20I want to be proud of the accomplishments over my lifetime.
12:25I want to have, you know, just friends and neighbors all over, like just.
12:32And we all know we're all related.
12:35We're all connected.
12:36Everybody in Alaska is connected.
12:38Yes.
12:45Before I hand the microphone over to Josie to talk more
12:49about how we can best get out and vote and what needs to be done here.
12:55She's one of our exceptional organizers.
12:58I just really, really want you to know how thankful I am for everything that you have done
13:05to a person, even coming to a rally that says something.
13:11Every single event that I've had, whether it's been, you know, a canvas launch or a fundraiser
13:17or a rally, so many more people come than we've ever seen participate.
13:23Wall to wall.
13:24Wall to wall.
13:24Shoulder to shoulder.
13:25Here we are in an airplane hangar.
13:28And it's packed.
13:30This makes me so proud.
13:33And this, yes.
13:35This is you.
13:43I'm so proud of the team that I have.
13:46I'm so proud of just everybody who's been involved.
13:49And, and it, the list just goes on and on, but now I want Josie to come up here and
13:55tell
13:56us more about what we need to hear on getting us across the finish line and finishing strong.
14:01I love you.
