Mary Peltola

Mary Sattler Peltola (born August 31, 1973) is an American politician and former tribal judge. She served as the U.S. representative from from 2022 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously served as a judge on the Orutsararmiut Native Council's tribal court, was executive director of the Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, Bethel city councillor, and member of the Alaska House of Representatives. As of 2026, Peltola is the most recent Democrat to have won statewide office or held the position in Alaska.

Peltola was first elected to Congress in an August 2022 special election after the death of incumbent Don Young, defeating Republicans Sarah Palin and Nick Begich III in an upset. It was the first election to take place under the state's new ranked-choice voting system. Peltola was the first Alaska Native member of Congress, first woman to represent Alaska in the House of Representatives, first person born in Alaska elected to the House, and the first Democrat to serve as Alaska's representative in the House since Nick Begich Sr. in 1972.

Peltola was re-elected to a full term in 2022. She lost re-election in 2024 to Nick Begich III. She is a candidate for U.S. Senate in 2026, challenging incumbent senator Dan Sullivan.

Early life and education Born Mary Sattler, Peltola is Yup'ik from the Yukon–Kuskokwim Delta in Western Alaska and German-American. She was born in Anchorage on August 31, 1973. Her father was Ward Sattler, a German American from Nebraska. He moved to Alaska to be a pilot and teacher. Her mother, Elizabeth "LizAnn" Piicigaq Williams, is a Yup'ik from Kwethluk, Alaska. As a Yup'ik child, she began fishing with her father at the age of six. Her uncles taught her how to place nets to catch different kinds of fish. When she was 12, her father registered a boat in her name and began fishing independently as a captain at 14. later commercially fishing with her father during the summers. While she was in college, she worked as a herring and salmon technician for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

Early career In 1996, Peltola was an intern in the Alaska Legislature. Later in 1996, she ran for a Bethel region seat, losing to incumbent Ivan Ivan by 56 votes. She worked as the campaign manager for Ivan's challenger, Independent candidate Willie Kasayulie, in the general election. Peltola later worked as a reporter. She appeared on the ballot under her maiden name, though she was married to Jonathan Kapsner at the time. She was elected and reelected mostly without or with only minimal opposition. Ivan's return to challenge her in the 2002 primary was the closest contest she faced.

In the House, Peltola served on various standing committees including Finance, Resources and Health and Social Services. She helped to rebuild the Bush Caucus, a bipartisan group of representatives and senators who represent rural and off-road communities in Alaska. In 2004, Peltola criticized No Child Left Behind Act rules which would impede continuing the practice of administering tests in some western Alaskan schools in the Yupik language.

Peltola sponsored a law allowing teachers to be given exemption from jury duty if they work at schools which had failed to meet adequate annual progress. It was signed into law by Governor Frank Murkowski in July 2004.

Local offices (2009–2022)

Peltola worked as manager of community development and sustainability for the Donlin Creek Mine from 2008 to 2014. In 2010, after incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski lost her party's primary, Peltola helped run her successful write-in campaign. After 2016, Peltola served as the executive director of the Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission. Al Gross, an independent in third place in the primary, dropped out of the ranked-choice runoff, leaving three candidates to compete in the ranked-choice runoff. The other two candidates were Republicans, former governor Sarah Palin and Nick Begich III. Gross endorsed Peltola and Republican Tara Sweeney after leaving the race. In the first round of ranked choice, Begich was eliminated. Peltola won against Palin in the final runoff.

2022

Peltola sought a full House term in the 2022 general election. She advanced to the general election in first place, receiving 36.8% of the votes in the primary. Alaska Republican Lisa Murkowski, running for her fourth term in the U.S. Senate, told Alaska Federation of Natives Convention delegates that she intended to vote for Peltola as her top choice in the 2022 House election. Murkowski said: "I do not toe the party line just because party leaders have asked... My first obligation is to the people of the state of Alaska." Various other friends and former staff of Don Young endorsed Peltola in a formal endorsement letter. Peltola, who received just under 49% of the vote in initial balloting, was declared the winner on November 23. She defeated Palin again with 55% of the ranked-choice vote. (Votes cast for her as the second-place choice on ballots of the eliminated third-place candidate, Nick Begich III, were added to her total.)

2024

The primary election was held on August 20, 2024. Peltola, along with Republicans Nick Begich III and Nancy Dahlstrom, emerged as the main candidates. After placing third, Dahlstrom withdrew from the race. The four candidates proceeding to the runoff were Begich, Peltola, Alaskan Independence Party candidate John Wayne Howe, and Democrat Eric Hafner.

On November 20, it was announced that Begich had defeated Peltola. In the first round, Begich received 48.42% of the vote against Peltola's 46.36%. After other candidates were eliminated, the final round resulted in Begich receiving 51.3% of the vote against Peltola's 48.7%, making him the winner.

Tenure

Peltola was sworn in as Alaska's U.S. representative on September 13, 2022. After her swearing in, Congress had an Alaska Native (Peltola), four Native Americans (Sharice Davids, Yvette Herrell, Markwayne Mullin, and Tom Cole); and a Native Hawaiian (Kai Kahele) serving simultaneously for the first time. During the 117th Congress, she was appointed to the House Natural Resources Committee and the Education and Labor Committee.

On September 29, 2022, the first bill sponsored by Peltola was passed through the House. It creates an Office of Food Security in the Department of Veterans Affairs. The bill passed the House in a 376–49 vote. During the 2022 United States railroad labor dispute, Peltola was one of eight House Democrats to vote against a bill that would impose a new contract on railroad workers; several rail unions were voting against it. She said she could not support a contract that did not include paid sick days. Peltola voted for the Respect for Marriage Act, a law protecting same-sex marriage and religious liberty. It codified the recognition of interracial marriage as provided by Loving v. Virginia and the law passed in December 2022.

During the January 2023 Speaker of the United States House of Representatives election, Peltola supported House Democratic leadership. However, she said, "If there are members who want to form a coalition majority like we often see in Alaska, I'm open to discussing that. Anything that gets us communicating with each other rather than talking at each other would be a good thing at this point." In February 2023, Peltola announced that she had chosen Josh Revak, a former Republican state senator who was a competitor in the 2022 special election, to run her Alaska office. Peltola's congressional staffers included Republicans. Her chief of staff, Alex Ortiz, was chief of staff to her Republican predecessor Don Young. In April 2023, Ortiz left her congressional office to take a position with her campaign in Southeast Alaska.

In April 2023, Peltola voted against the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, which would have required individuals participating in federally funded school sports to compete in the category associated with their assigned sex, rather than gender identity. She said the bill was "bullying" and "federal overreach". Referring to the bill's focus on the transgender community, Peltola said, "I don't know why on earth, as adults and national leaders, we'd be piling on and targeting them, and trying to make their lives even harder." She said this policy should be decided at a local or state level, rather than federally with "one-size-fits-all for every school district."

In 2023, Peltola's office ranked second-highest in staff turnover for the U.S. House of Representatives, with a turnover four times the House average. After she joined, the House in September 2022 much of her staff had been carried over from her Republican predecessor on a temporary basis. In 2024, she supported several Republican-led immigration and crime-related measures, including a bill to deport undocumented migrants who assault police officers. She voted to condemn President Biden's handling of the southern border and backed legislation limiting the District of Columbia's authority over its sentencing laws.

In May 2024, Peltola introduced the Bottom Trawl Clarity Act and the Bycatch Reduction and Mitigation Act as a result of declining salmon returns in western Alaska and concerns about salmon bycatch in pollock trawling in the Bering Sea. If passed, the bipartisan bills limit bottom trawling to designated areas and expand NOAA research in bycatch reduction.

Committee assignments

For the 118th Congress: Committee on Natural Resources Subcommittee on Federal Lands Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Aviation Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation

Caucus memberships Blue Dog Coalition Congressional Caucus for the Equal Rights Amendment

2026 U.S. Senate campaign

Throughout 2025, Peltola was seen as being a possible contender for governor or U.S. senator for the 2026 elections. On January 12, 2026, Peltola declared her candidacy for the U.S. Senate seat held by incumbent Senator Dan Sullivan. She has praised Alaska's bipartisan coalitions. In 2024, she commended Alaska's "politically balanced delegation" to Congress. Peltola's 2026 platform has been said to be populist.

Institutional reforms Peltola has advocated for reforms of U.S. political institutions. She supports term limits, stricter campaign finance laws, and more limits on insider trading for members of U.S. Congress. In 2026, she criticized the 119th United States Congress, saying there should have been more checks and balances during the second presidency of Donald Trump. She said, "We have got to have a Congress that doesn't just cede all of their power." Peltola said the merger would reduce competition in Alaska's grocery market and she asked the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to intervene. As of December 2024, the merger was canceled. Peltola also supports the right to repair. She supported the ConocoPhillips Willow Project and increased oil development within the National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska. She urged the White House and the Interior Department to approve the project and they did.

She supports reforms so that federal permits for infrastructure and energy projects are issued more quickly. Peltola said it would benefit both renewable and petroleum projects. She supports reforming the Magnuson–Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, to better protect fisheries and marine ecosystems. She believes that the act's focus on "optimum yield" has privileged economic considerations over environmental ones. She supports amending the act to prioritize the environment.

Gun rights In her 2024 reelection campaign, Peltola was endorsed by the National Rifle Association (NRA). That made her the only Democratic candidate for Congress endorsed by the group during that election cycle. In an interview with the Anchorage Daily News, she said "guns are a part of Alaska's culture and a core tool of a subsistence lifestyle", adding she grew up hunting and would continue to defend Alaskans' right to own firearms.

Healthcare Peltola supports extending Affordable Care Act premium subsidies In 2022, she said she would "protect Medicaid expansion". She is pro-choice and a supporter of codifying Roe v. Wade.

Land management In 2022, Peltola supported legislation transferring 360,000 acres of federal land to the University of Alaska. The land was owed to the university as a land-grant school.

Foreign policy Peltola broke with her party to vote for measures supporting Israel when she served in the U.S. House.

In May 2026, Peltola said she would have voted for a war powers resolution to limit the 2026 Iran war. She is an Orthodox Christian and belongs to the Orthodox Church in America.

Peltola has four biological children and three stepchildren. Her third husband, Eugene "Buzzy" Peltola Jr., served as Alaska director for the Bureau of Indian Affairs. He died in September 2023 after the plane he was flying crashed. In 2025, Mary Peltola sued the company which owned the aircraft.

Electoral history State house elections

Bethel City Council elections

Note: The election was to fill four seats with two-year terms and two seats with one-year terms. Candidates were given the choice of which seat to fill on the basis of their vote count, with the highest vote count given first preference to decide which length of a term they wanted to fill. Mary Sattler (Peltola), Richard D. Robb, Gene Peltola Jr., and Mark Springer filled two-year terms while Joseph A. Klejka and Kent Harding filled one-year terms.

U.S. House elections

2022 Alaska's at-large congressional district special election Party Candidate Round 1 Round 2 Votes % Transfer Votes % Democratic 74,817 39.66% +15,467 91,266 51.48% Republican 58,339 30.92% +27,053 86,026 48.52% Republican 52,536 27.85% -52,536 Eliminated Write-in 2,974 1.58% -2,974 Eliminated Total votes 188,666 100.00% 177,423 94.04% Inactive ballots 0 0.00% +11,243 11,243 5.96% Democratic gain from Republican

2022 Alaska's at-large congressional district election Party Candidate Round 1Round 2 Round 3 Votes % TransferVotes %Transfer Votes % Democratic (incumbent) 128,329 48.68% +1,038129,43349.20% +7,460 136,893 54.94% Republican 67,732 25.74% +1,06469,24226.32% +43,013 112,255 45.06% Republican 61,431 23.34% +1,98864,39224.48% -64,392 Eliminated Libertarian 4,560 1.73% -4,560 Eliminated Write-in 1,096 0.42% -1,096 Eliminated Total votes 263,148 100.00% 263,067100.00% 249,148 100.00% Inactive ballots 2,193 0.83% +9063,0971.16% +14,765 17,016 5.55% Democratic hold

2024 Alaska's at-large congressional district election Party Candidate First choice Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Votes % Votes % Transfer Votes % Transfer Votes % Republican 159,550 48.41% 159,777 48.49% +267 160,044 48.77% +4,817 164,861 51.22% Democratic Mary Peltola (incumbent) 152,828 46.37% 152,948 46.42% +1,313 154,261 47.01% +2,724 156,985 48.78% Independence 13,010 3.95% 13,210 4.01% +661 13,871 4.23% -13,871 Eliminated Democratic 3,417 1.04% 3,558 1.08% -3,558 Eliminated Write-in 750 0.23% Eliminated Total votes 329,555 329,493 328,176 321,846 Inactive ballots 6,360 +1,317 7,677 +6,330 14,007 Republican gain from Democratic