Mary Peltola

For the first time, a democratic native woman from Alaska has secured a seat in the house of Congress in the recent special election session in the state.

In 1996, she even ran for a seat in the state legislature for the Bethel suburb. However, she lost the seat by only 56 votes and even expressed her grief for the same. India will be the world’s future talent factory as it will have 20% of the globe’s working population by 2047, said Bob Sternfels, CEO, McKinsey & Co. Democrats seem to have a good chance at winning a Senate majority, while their control of the House is not in serious doubt. Although she hasn’t been sworn in yet, people from Alaska expect the day to be memorable down the path of history. [Mary Peltola](/topic/mary-peltola)became victorious after defeating two prominent political figures, [Nick Begich III](/topic/nick-begich-iii)and Palin.

On August 31, Democrat Mary Peltola won the special election for Alaska's sole U.S. House seat. She defeated former governor and Republican Sarah Palin, ...

From 1999 to 2009, she served in the Alaska House of Representatives. Mary Peltola was up against Sarah Palin, Nick Begich III and Al Gross for the U.S. She is also the first Democrat since the late U.S. She will now serve the remainder of the late Republican U.S. With her victory, Peltola became the first Alaskan native in Congress. Per the unofficial results announced by the Alaska Division of Elections, Peltola bagged the seat after the results were tabulated on ranked-choice ballots.

Mary Peltola, a Democratic former state politician, has won a special election to fill Alaska's sole US House of Representatives seat, becoming the first ...

She is seen as having helped open the door to a more far-right wing of the Republican Party. The special election was called after the death of Mr Young, 88, who was first elected in 1973. She is the first Alaska Native to represent a state where almost 20% of the population is Indigenous, the highest proportion in the United States.

Peltola's win makes her the first Alaska Native to serve in the House. Plus, 'supermajority' of up to 80% of Americans back climate action.

Apostolopoulos was informed last year that he would be awarded a medal for his work rescuing refugees off the Greek coast, but was then told it had been withdrawn, with media reports suggesting the U-turn was a result of government pressure. The average person in the US estimates that just 37-43% of the public back such policies. “If love of country means accepting the killing of refugees on our border, then I’m proud to be a traitor,” he says. Black people were 2.9 times more likely to be killed by police than white people in the US, it said. There have been credible allegations of torture, forced abortion and sterilization, the UN report says. The The Columbus officer Ricky Anderson was attempting to serve the man, identified as 20-year-old Donovan Lewis, an arrest warrant. Lewis was being apprehended on charges of improperly handling a firearm, assault and domestic violence. Along with Peltola and the other Republican candidate, Nick Begich, she will run again for a two-year term in November. A vape pen was found on the bed beside him. During the campaign, she emphasized her support for such issues as abortion rights. Why was there a special election?

Mary Peltola will be the first woman to represent Alaska in the House of Representatives and the first Alaska Native ever to serve in Congress.

“As an Alaskan who was born and raised here and intends to be here the rest of my life, the fine people on this stage, I’m going to be working with them for the rest of my life. Please see our republishing guidelines for use of photos and graphics. House of Representatives and the first Alaska Native ever to serve in Congress. So you are not going to hear me say anything bad about any of the other leaders that are in this race,” Peltola said “I do have 10 years of experience in the Legislature. House race here in 50 years and will serve the remaining four months of the term left unfinished by Alaskans for Better Elections, the group that backed the installation of ranked choice voting, called the vote a success. Any legal challenge to the results must be filed by Sept. Follow Alaska Beacon on You can’t do 10 years of public service without disagreeing with half the people all the time. “In fact, I think God prepared me for an outcome like this, believe it or not. It isn’t yet clear when Peltola will be sworn into office and officially take her seat. I think God has kind of given me peace all along.”

Peltola, who beat Sarah Palin, will be the first Native Alaskan elected to Congress.

[string of Democratic over-performances](https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/yes-special-elections-really-are-signaling-a-better-than-expected-midterm-for-democrats/) in House special elections since the Supreme Court [overturned landmark abortion ruling Roe v. - Independent Al Gross, a surgeon and 2020 U.S. [primary last week](https://www.axios.com/2022/08/17/sarah-palin-advances-alaska-us-house-seat-election). Wade](https://www.axios.com/2022/06/24/roe-wade-decision-abortion) in June. [Ocean heat reached all-time high in 2021, report finds](/2022/09/01/ocean-heat-reached-all-time-high-2021-report-finds) [Ocean heat content](https://www.axios.com/2022/01/12/global-ocean-temperatures-record-high), global sea levels and greenhouse gas concentrations all reached record highs in 2021, according to the [State of the Climate](https://ametsoc.net/sotc2021/StateoftheClimate2021_lowres.pdf) report published Wednesday. [climate change](https://www.axios.com/energy-environment/climate-change) has global impacts and shows no sign of slowing, said [Rick Spinrad](https://www.noaa.gov/news-release/bams-report-record-high-greenhouse-gases-sea-levels-in-2021) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which led the study. [Observers predicted](https://www.axios.com/2022/03/27/alaska-murkowski-special-election-poll)the system would benefit a more consensus candidate over a right-wing firebrand like Palin, who a [majority of voters view unfavorably](https://www.businessinsider.com/sarah-palin-alaska-house-race-31-percent-majority-unfavorable-poll-2022-4). [prevailed in New York's 19th District](https://www.axios.com/2022/08/24/pat-ryan-new-york-special-election)after running a campaign that was heavily focused on abortion. [death in March](https://www.axios.com/2022/03/19/alaska-congressman-don-young-dies). [advanced to the general election](https://www.axios.com/2022/06/15/sarah-palin-alaska-house-special-election) in the top-four blanket primary in June along with Palin and businessman Nick Begich, a more mainstream Republican. [telling the New York Times](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/17/us/politics/mary-peltola-ak.html), "I think respect is just a fundamental part of getting things done and working through problems." [Politics & Policy](https://www.axios.com/politics-policy)

Mary Peltola narrowly won a special election that was determined by a ranked-choice voting tabulation. She will become the first Alaska Native in Congress.

Peltola will complete the term and then she, Palin and Begich will face off again in November for the next two-year term. Though Palin had sharp words for her fellow Republican Begich, she refrained from attacking Peltola during the campaign, calling her a sweetheart. She will become the the The special election in Alaska Democrat Mary Peltola will represent Alaska's lone U.S. House special election in Alaska

Mary Peltola, photographed at the Resource Industry Trade Organizations Host Congressional Candidate Forum, May 12. By Eric Bradner, CNN. (CNN) -- Democrat Mary ...

The holiday, she said, was when she began to understand Young in a context beyond his friendship with her father. Peltola could consolidate all of the Democratic votes, while Palin and Begich jockeyed for Republicans' support. Peltola, Palin and Begich are all set to square off again in November. Once, in the 1960s, Peltola said, the two men bought a bulldozer together and took 12-hour shifts fighting a wildfire. She has a warm relationship with Palin, who once gave her family's backyard trampoline to Peltola's family, and she once spent Thanksgiving with the late Rep. The two were expectant mothers working at the statehouse in Juneau at the same time. I'm always happy to see Sarah," she said. Peltola later became a Bethel City Council member, a lobbyist and a salmon advocate as the executive director of the Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission. After a strong commercial fishing year, Peltola's father sent her to a private boarding school near Allentown, Pennsylvania, for her sophomore year of high school. Sarah Palin -- by winning a special House election, according to unofficial [ranked-choice voting](https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/31/politics/alaska-how-ranked-choice-voting-works/index.html) results released Wednesday by the state Division of Elections. I do think of things in very broad terms, and I do recognize that in Alaska, even though we have a huge footprint, we are a very small in numbers population, and we are all related." "Everything is interconnected," Peltola said.

In Alaska, Democrat Mary Peltola has beaten former governor and 2008 Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin in a special election to fill the ...

It’s a rare statewide victory for a Democrat in Alaska and a possible sign of midterm election voter backlash against the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down abortion rights under Roe v. Peltola campaigned on reproductive rights — many have called this an early “Roevember” — and will make history as the first Alaska Native in Congress. In Alaska, Democrat Mary Peltola has beaten former governor and 2008 Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin in a special election to fill the state’s open U.S.

JUNEAU, Alaska — Democrat Mary Peltola won the special election for Alaska's only U.S. House seat on Wednesday, besting a field that included Republican ...

Peltola said she got a boost after the June special primary when she won endorsements from Democrats and independents who had been in the race. In her run for the House seat, she had widespread name recognition and won the endorsement of former President Donald Trump. In Alaska, voters last backed a Democrat for president in 1964. Peltola, who is Yup’ik and turned 49 on Wednesday, will become the first Alaska Native to serve in the House and the first woman to hold the seat. Begich was later declared dead and Young in 1973 was elected to the seat. “That is just a message that people really need to hear right now.” Palin went on to become a conservative commentator on TV and appeared in reality television programs, among other pursuits. Ranked choice tabulations took place Wednesday after no candidate won more than 50% of the first choice votes, with state elections officials livestreaming the event. “My desire is to follow in Congressman Young’s legacy of representing all Alaskans, and I’m just looking forward to getting to work.” 16 election, in line with the deadline for state elections officials to receive absentee ballots mailed from outside the U.S. She will be the first Democrat to hold the seat since the late U.S. JUNEAU, Alaska — Democrat Mary Peltola won the special election for Alaska’s only U.S.

In Alaska's special U.S. House election (featuring the inauguration of ranked-choice voting), Democrat Mary Peltola — who will be the first Alaska Native in ...

After losing the special election, Palin immediately [vowed to fight on to November](https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-sarah-palin-voting-government-and-politics-f9855f1138a922ab1147da7900819fa8?utm_source=homepage&utm_medium=TopNews&utm_campaign=position_6). [abrupt resignation as governor in 2009](https://newrepublic.com/article/50663/palinrsquos-independence-day) following her failed national campaign, followed by a peripatetic political and pop-culture career mostly taking place in the Lower 48. [winner in November](https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/2022-midterms-guide.html) takes office in January — a surprise addition to the Democrats’ fragile House majority from a very red state (Trump defeated Biden in Alaska by 10 points in 2020). How the two Republicans behave toward each other and what national Republicans frantic to win the seat do to boost the odds of victory may do a lot to determine the outcome. But as the Associated Press [noted](https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-sarah-palin-voting-government-and-politics-f9855f1138a922ab1147da7900819fa8?utm_source=homepage&utm_medium=TopNews&utm_campaign=position_6), she was able to rise above the fray as Palin and Begich pounded each other. She had spent a decade in Alaska’s House of Representatives, from 1999 to 2009, where she chaired the bipartisan “bush” caucus of rural lawmakers and overlapped with Palin, her leading opponent in the special congressional race, who was governor from late 2006 through mid-2009. [denounced](https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-sarah-palin-voting-government-and-politics-f9855f1138a922ab1147da7900819fa8?utm_source=homepage&utm_medium=TopNews&utm_campaign=position_6) as “crazy, convoluted, confusing” after her defeat was made clear. In a special ranked-choice tabulation live-streamed by state election officials (probably for transparency, as the new system voters approved in 2020 has spurred a lot of confusion), it was [Sarah Palin](https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/08/sarah-palin-still-has-two-shots-at-going-to-congress.html) and instead sent Democrat Mary Peltola to Washington. Peltola hit some progressive themes as a general-election candidate [including](https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-sarah-palin-voting-government-and-politics-f9855f1138a922ab1147da7900819fa8?utm_source=homepage&utm_medium=TopNews&utm_campaign=position_6) support for abortion rights, ocean productivity, and food security. This gave Peltola the victory by a margin of 51.5 percent to Palin’s 48.5 percent. Peltola will be the first woman and the first Alaska Native to hold the state’s one U.S.

Why the Democrat, who beat Sarah Palin in a special election for a House seat, made salmon the cornerstone of her campaign.

And because Alaska is one of the [least partisan](https://ivn.us/2018/08/08/9-states-registered-independents-outnumber-major-political-parties) states in the country—there are far more registered independents than Republicans and Democrats combined—it behooves candidates to emphasize positions that appeal to groups with common interests but diverse political leanings, like subsistence fishers and people who work in the fishing industry. Voters will return to the polls in November for that election, which once again features Peltola, Palin and another Republican—Nick Begich, who has the endorsement of the Alaska GOP—in a ranked-choice race. It’s both an urgent, critical issue and one that doesn’t inspire the kind of fire-breathing and grandstanding that draws attention from the Lower 48. Candidates are further encouraged to campaign across party lines by Alaska’s new ranked-choice voting system, which rewards consensus candidates (those who a lot of people believe they can live with) over polarizing ones (those who inspire passionate support and passionate hate in equal measure). According to a Peltola campaign advisor, she has sent mailers to constituents warning about the foreign and out-of-state corporate trawlers that are destroying salmon hauls for Alaska fishers. She wants to [amend it](https://www.ktoo.org/2022/04/11/mary-peltola-us-house-candidate/) to protect subsistence fishing and place stricter limits on trawlers. According to the biography on her campaign website, Peltola also worked as a “herring and salmon technician” for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game while she was in college. Though she won’t start as a representative in Congress until later this month, Peltola will only serve until the beginning of January. It’s just spending all summer, and the whole summer is revolving around the king run and the chum run, and then the red salmon run and the silver salmon run, and harvesting salmon and commercial fishing as well. Her father registered a boat in her name at 12, and she started fishing on her own as a captain at 14. In that position, Peltola [testified in Congress](https://www.kuskosalmon.org/news/kritfc-hearing-on-msa-11162021) in support of reauthorizing the Magnuson-Stevens Act, which regulates fisheries in federal waters. But in Alaska, where fishing is both a major jobs-producing industry and an essential mode of subsistence for indigenous Alaskans, people have strong opinions on fish policy.

Peltola is a moderate who backs the state's oil and natural gas industry. She'll be running for a full term in November.

I’m not sure that other technologies are going to be available and reliable in the cold climates that we have here, with the amount of darkness that we have in the winter,” she said. But she only has the spot until the current session of Congress ends in January, unless she wins the November general election. Voters approved a ballot initiative in 2020 to implement ranked choice. And I intend to use those skills in Congress,” she told the station. But her support for oil and gas drilling and exploration in Alaska could put her at odds with other congressional Democrats. She previously worked in community outreach for the Donlin Gold proposed mining project and on the Bethel City Council, among other positions. Peltola, a member of the Yup’ik people indigenous to western Alaska, ran as a somewhat moderate candidate, with pledges to work in a bipartisan way for all Alaskans. “I think that we really need somebody who’s effective at communicating and partnering and coalition-building.” And I think what we need to do is really articulate how Alaska does it best,” she said. “Alaskans have consistently supported exploration in this area. Don Young (R) was the first use of Alaska’s new ranked-choice voting system. And while the Democrat beat two Republicans, including former Gov.

KYUK's Nina Kravinsky spoke with Peltola by phone shortly after the election results were announced on Aug. 31.

I’m a pretty superstitious person, and I did not want to jinx anything by having, you know, an idea of what was going to happen. I’ve really been trying to keep one foot in front of the other and take each day one at a time. To really elevate those issues and talk about the need for precautionary management and talking about the need for good management of our marine ecosystem. It really is our tie to the people who came before us, and it’s really incumbent upon us to make sure that that resource is available for the generations that come after us. And honestly, the support that I got from the community of Kwethluk is just very heartwarming, and it just means the world to me. And I want to really share the values of our region, working together and working collaboratively and holding each other up, I want to hopefully, really bring those values to Washington, D.C. Sullivan, and I’m really looking forward to working with them and partnering with them to accomplish a lot of things Alaska needs accomplished. Peltola: I think that it’s very important that Alaska have a bipartisan delegation. Kravinsky: There are a lot of headlines, I’m sure you’ve been seeing them, announcing your win as the first Alaska Native elected to Congress and the first woman elected as Alaska’s sole U.S. Peltola: Well, it’s a lot, it’s a lot to take in. Peltola, who is Yup’ik, will be the first Alaska Native person to serve in Congress and the first woman to serve as Alaska’s U.S. Peltola: Well, it means the world to me to have the support of my friends, and family and neighbors.

The race was an early test of the state's new ranked-choice voting system, which promises to reduce political polarization by advancing more moderate ...

“It’s provided a hobby for political pundits and election watchers,” Persily, the political commentator, said. “Now, with the wait for results, the Band-Aid gets pulled off slowly, and you can keep wondering—is the next tug going to reveal something?” He continued, “It’s inside baseball. And the confusion surrounding it, even if genuine, played into their messaging: as Erickson, the economist, put it, “they say, This just shows how the bureaucracy and the coastal élites are rigging our elections in ways you can’t possibly understand.” Palin had called ranked-choice voting a “convoluted newfangled system” that leaves Alaskans “frustrated, confused, and discouraged” and allows “Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi to lock up the state.” Tom Cotton, the Republican senator from Arkansas, called Peltola’s victory “a scam.” But it’s not just Republicans who are skeptical. You’ve never talked to a liberal in your life, but it’s time.” Larry Persily, a frequent commentator on Alaska politics, told me, “it gives people permission to vote their heart.” For instance: “I don’t like Biden, but I care about fishing.” “The word ‘primary’ is used as a verb now—as a threat,” Rebecca Braun, a former Alaska policy adviser, told me. “This race showed that Alaskans have an appetite for someone who isn’t partisan, and for campaigns that are positive,” she told me. After the primary votes came in, a candidate for the state house had to call the department of elections because his campaign couldn’t figure out whether he was still in the race. Proponents of the practice hope Alaska can be a microcosm for the rest of the country. “Forcing us to choose between the two parties automatically truncates the choices,” Scott Kendall, one of the lawyers who authored the ballot reform, told me. “If you have a moderate Republican who is working in a bipartisan way, the Party will say, we’re going to primary you.” Ranked-choice voting, she went on, “allows you to vote for your actual favorite candidate and then hedge your bet.” In the run-up to the special election, architects of the measure tended to describe it in simple, almost childproof terms: “You’re at the ice-cream store, and you want strawberry, but they’re out of strawberry, so you get vanilla.” When I was in Alaska for the primary, the state director of Americans for Prosperity used a box of props to demonstrate how R.C.V. The winner would only finish out Young’s term in Congress, and the three remaining candidates—the Democrat Mary Peltola and the Republicans Nick Begich and

Democrat Mary Peltola made history this week, becoming the first Alaska Native member of Congress. She was a longtime member of Alaska's legislature.

She also [happened to win her race](https://www.instagram.com/p/Ch3XPJypKRp/) in the U.S.'s 49th state on her 49th birthday, Aug. [Two are members](https://www.instagram.com/p/Cg2k0ztvcqR/) of the U.S. While in the legislature, she helped rebuild and became chair of Alaska's Bush Caucus, a nonpartisan group of legislators that focuses on rural communities. Peltola and Palin have been friends for years — Palin even called her "a beautiful soul" after Peltola's win Wednesday, She is a self-proclaimed salmon advocate, as the fish is a big part of Alaska's culture and its third-largest industry. That is much lower than what most campaigns spend, including her competitors, such as Sarah Palin, who raised more than $1 million and spent $996,291, according to Peltola beat out former Alaska Governor and Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin in a special U.S. She was a "I think that those are really good principles to live by." That includes access to safe, legal abortions, with no exceptions. Alaska Democrat Mary Peltola made history this week, becoming the state's first Alaska Native member of Congress. Her political career began at age 22, when she interned with the Alaska legislature and ran for office that same year.

Former Bethel legislator Mary Peltola has won election to the U.S. House of Representatives to fill the remainder of Don Young's term.

I’m a pretty superstitious person, and I did not want to jinx anything by having, you know, an idea of what was going to happen. I’ve really been trying to keep one foot in front of the other and take each day one at a time. To really elevate those issues and talk about the need for precautionary management and talking about the need for good management of our marine ecosystem. It really is our tie to the people who came before us, and it’s really incumbent upon us to make sure that that resource is available for the generations that come after us. And honestly, the support that I got from the community of Kwethluk is just very heartwarming, and it just means the world to me. And I want to really share the values of our region, working together and working collaboratively and holding each other up, I want to hopefully, really bring those values to Washington, D.C. Sullivan, and I’m really looking forward to working with them and partnering with them to accomplish a lot of things Alaska needs accomplished. Peltola: I think that it’s very important that Alaska have a bipartisan delegation. Kravinsky: There are a lot of headlines, I’m sure you’ve been seeing them, announcing your win as the first Alaska Native elected to Congress and the first woman elected as Alaska’s sole U.S. Peltola: Well, it’s a lot, it’s a lot to take in. Peltola, who is Yup’ik, will be the first Alaska Native person to serve in Congress and the first woman to serve as Alaska’s U.S. Peltola: Well, it means the world to me to have the support of my friends, and family and neighbors.

Former state legislator Mary Peltola won the special election for Alaska's sole House seat despite raising less than her Republican opponents.

Peltola, who [has served](https://www.linkedin.com/in/mary-sattler-peltola-602b2473/) as executive director of the [Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission](https://www.kuskosalmon.org/), has pushed for protecting Bristol Bay from the [proposed Pebble Mine project](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/25/climate/pebble-mine-alaska-epa.html), and she [supports](https://www.marypeltola.com/issues) reducing Seattle-based fishing corporations’ bycatch of Alaska’s seafood. Both sides of the aisle have [poured cash into competitive districts](https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2022/05/a-look-at-campaign-money-in-the-2022-midterm-elections-most-competitive-congressional-races/) across the country in hopes of party congressional control. [has reliably voted Republican](https://www.270towin.com/states/Alaska) — and Democratic success fluctuates this election cycle. [pro-abortion rights, pro-labor platform](https://twitter.com/MaryPeltola/status/1562873638642413568) this election, Peltola [previously supported](https://www.kyuk.org/politics/2022-04-02/former-y-k-delta-lawmaker-mary-peltola-is-running-for-alaskas-us-house-seat) Sen. Her largest contribution has been to her special election race and is a [$83,530](https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/fecimg/?202208049525131080) check from individuals through the [Alaska First Fund](https://www.fec.gov/data/committee/C00819599/?tab=about-committee), her joint fundraising committee alongside [Kelly Tshibaka](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/16/us/politics/kelly-tshibaka-murkowski-senate-alaska.html)’s U.S. [largest donation](https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/?committee_id=C00812388&two_year_transaction_period=2022&data_type=processed) as of Aug. [almost $1.1 million](https://www.fec.gov/data/candidate/H2AK00226/?cycle=2022&election_full=true) total for her special and primary race bids. Peltola, who is Yup’ik, will be [the first Alaska Native representative in Congress](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/17/us/politics/mary-peltola-ak.html) — and the first woman to fill the seat. Sealaska is the Alaska Native regional corporation for Southeast Alaska that is one of many organizations [endorsing](https://www.sealaska.com/community/sealaska-encourages-support-for-mary-peltola-for-congress/) Peltola. [total](https://www.fec.gov/data/committee/C00812388/?tab=filings) includes contributions to both Peltola’s special election and primary race bids — as campaign committees report combined totals to the Federal Election Commission. [Sarah Palin](https://www.followthemoney.org/entity-details?eid=9587962) and [Nick Begich III](https://www.politico.com/newsletters/huddle/2022/08/16/eyes-on-alaska-and-wyoming-00052111), the grandson of Young’s Democratic predecessor — came in second and third place. All three candidates will be on November’s ballot given the state’s new [ranked-choice voting system](https://www.elections.alaska.gov/RCV.php).