By: James Brooks, Alaska Beacon

All three members of Alaska’s delegation to Congress showed their support for the new war with Iran last week, voting against resolutions intended to restrain President Donald Trump.

Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, both Republicans, voted against a measure in the Senate on Wednesday, and Rep. Nick Begich III, also a Republican, voted against a similar House resolution on Thursday.

Both resolutions failed to advance. 

The Alaska legislators’ votes were in line with their past actions. Last year, when Trump ordered a bombing campaign against Iranian nuclear facilities, all three said they supported the strikes.

The current war is significantly larger than last year’s attacks, and Trump has said he is seeking Iran’s “unconditional surrender” and wants to have a role in picking its next leader.

Neither he nor senior administration officials have given firm long-term plans, and they have not ruled out the deployment of soldiers on the ground in Iran. 

Begich issued a statement on Feb. 28 calling the war “a necessary and targeted response” and said he supports regime change in the country.

“The path forward cannot be centered on further appeasement but the removal of this corrupt, fanatical leadership that has brought suffering to the Iranian people and threatens our peace at home. In so doing, we can provide the people of Iran the opportunity to change leadership, reclaim their sovereignty, and chart a new course,” the statement said in part.

Begich is in the middle of a re-election campaign, and his two leading challengers issued statements opposing the war.

By email, Democratic U.S. House candidate Matt Schultz criticized Begich’s vote and suggested he would have chosen differently.

“Our tax dollars should build schools and hospitals here at home, not bankroll endless foreign wars. But Washington always seems to find billions for war while Alaskans pay the price with sky-high costs and watch investments in our future get delayed, downsized, or ignored,” he said.

“The cost of war isn’t just dollars and cents, it’s measured in human lives and suffering. As a pastor, I believe every life is sacred. That’s why the Constitution requires Congress to approve war: so no president can send Americans into conflict without a real plan and the support of the American people.”

A spokesperson for independent U.S. House candidate Bill Hill referenced that candidate’s posts on social media when asked about his position.

“Our leaders should be investing in lowering costs and making life better for working Americans, not putting American lives at risk in foreign wars without congressional approval,” Hill wrote in a Wednesday post on Facebook. 

“Six U.S. service members have died and billions of dollars have been spent in a matter of days.  Meanwhile here at home, our schools are in crisis, healthcare costs keep rising, veterans are at risk of losing benefits, and everyday costs are just too damn high,” he wrote. “We can’t afford a costly war with no end in sight.”

On the Senate side, Murkowski said the resolution presented to her this week would have required the removal of soldiers from hostilities, stopping military operations immediately.

“The abrupt cessation of all offensive operations would not leave any Americans — soldiers, diplomats, or civilians — in the Middle East in a safer position,” her statement said in part.

Murkowski said Trump has “committed U.S. troops to active engagement in combat with an enemy that has targeted and killed Americans for decades. We have lost six soldiers in this fight with the potential for more casualties. What our troops need now is for our Congress, and this country, to know that they are supported. It is for this reason that I oppose Senator Kaine’s War Powers Resolution — based on the practical implications of its passage.”

Sullivan has supported military action against Iran for years and told reporters on Feb. 28, “I’m not someone that, in general, would support kind of taking out world leaders,” he said. “But I think these guys, … my belief is that they’re less world leaders than terrorists, right?”

He reiterated his position during a Congressional hearing days later, alluding to Iranian support for anti-American insurgents during the Iraq War and in terrorist actions before that.

“This country’s been at war with us for almost a half century,” he said, referring to Iran, “and they’ve killed thousands and wounded thousands of our best and brightest.”

Sullivan is also facing a re-election campaign this year, but unlike on the House side, there isn’t a bright line between the incumbent and his leading opponent on this issue. 

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Mary Peltola hasn’t made any public statements about the Iran war, and her campaign social media accounts have been silent on the subject.

When contacted Thursday, her campaign spokesperson said she had no comment. 

That makes it unclear whether she supports or opposes the war.