Mary Peltola

Mary Sattler Peltola (born August 31, 1973, Yup'ik) is an American politician and former tribal judge serving as the U.S. representative from AK's at-large congressional district since September 2022. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously served as a judge on the Orutsararmiut Native Council's tribal court, executive director of the Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, Bethel city councilor, and member of the Alaska House of Representatives.

Peltola defeated Republicans former governor Sarah Palin and Alaska Policy Forum board member Nick Begich in an upset in the August 2022 special election to succeed Don Young, who died in March that year. It was the first election to take place under the state's new ranked-choice voting system. In doing so, she became the first Alaska Native member of Congress, the first woman to represent Alaska in the House, the first person born in Alaska to serve in the House, and the first Democrat elected to the House from Alaska since Nick Begich Sr. in 1972. She is also the only member who is Russian Orthodox.

She was reelected to a full term in the state's regularly scheduled election in November 2022. As of 2024, Peltola is the only Democrat holding statewide office in Alaska.

Early life and education
Born Mary Sattler, Peltola is Yup'ik (Alaska Native) from Western Alaska. She was born in Anchorage on August 31, 1973. Her Yup'ik name is Akalleq. Peltola's father, Ward Sattler, a German-American from Nebraska, moved to Alaska to work as a pilot and teacher. Her mother, Elizabeth "LizAnn" Piicigaq Williams, is Yup'ik from Kwethluk. Peltola was raised in the communities of Kwethluk, Tuntutuliak, Platinum, and Bethel. As a child, she traveled with her father around Alaska as he campaigned for Congressman Don Young.

Peltola studied elementary education at the University of Northern Colorado (1991 to 1993) and later took courses at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (1994 to 1995), University of Alaska Southeast (1995 to 1997), and University of Alaska Anchorage (1997 to 1998). As a college student, she worked as a herring and salmon technician for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

In 1995, Peltola won the Miss National Congress of American Indians pageant. In the competition, she performed two Yup'ik dances and wore traditional clothing, including a squirrel skin parka, wolf hair headdress, and mukluks.

Early career
In 1996, Peltola was an intern in the Alaska Legislature. Later that year, she ran for a Bethel region seat, losing to incumbent Ivan Ivan by 56 votes. Peltola worked as the campaign manager for Ivan's challenger, Independent candidate Willie Kasayulie, in the general election.

Peltola later worked as a reporter.

Alaska House of Representatives (1999–2009)
In 1998, Peltola was elected to the Alaska House of Representatives, after a successful rematch against Ivan in the Democratic primary. 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 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 that would impede continuing the practice of administering tests in some western Alaskan schools in the native Yupik language.

Peltola authored a law which allowed teachers to be given exemption from jury duty if they work at schools that had failed to meet adequate annual progress. This 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.

Peltola was elected to the Bethel City Council in 2011, and served until her term ended in 2013. She was a lobbyist in Alaska from 2015 to 2017. After 2016, Peltola served as executive director of the Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission. From 2020 to 2021, she served as a judge on the Orutsararmiut Native Council's tribal court.

2022 special
In 2022 Alaska's at-large congressional district special election was conducted under the newly established ranked-choice voting system to fill the seat of Don Young after his death. Some 48 candidates ran in the blanket primary, with the top-four finishers advancing to the general election.

One withdrew and Peltola was one of three candidates to proceed to ranked voting. She advanced to the runoff, the only Democrat to do so. Al Gross, an independent in third place in the primary, dropped out of the ranked choice runoff, leaving two Republicans, former governor Sarah Palin and Nick Begich III. Gross endorsed Peltola after dropping out of the race. Three Alaska voters filed a losing suit to challenge the decision not to allow Republican Tara Sweeney, the fifth placer in the primary, to advance to the runoff. Sweeney subsequently withdrew her candidacy. In the first round of ranked choice, Begich was eliminated. Peltola defeated Palin in the final ranked-choice runoff.

2022


Peltola sought a full 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."

Ahead of the November 2022 election, Peltola announced endorsements from Don Young's daughters, Joni Nelson and Dawn Vallely, in addition to Young's former communications director Zack Brown. Various other friends and former staff of 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. (Voted cast for her as the second-place choice on ballots of the eliminated third-place candidate, Nick Begich III, were added to her total.)

Tenure
Peltola was sworn in as Alaska's U.S. representative on September 13, 2022. Upon 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 ever. She is the fourth Native woman elected to Congress, after Davids, Herrell, and Deb Haaland.

On September 29, 2022, Peltola passed her first bill through the House. The bill would create an Office of Food Security in the Department of Veterans Affairs. Peltola's 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 supports allowing ConocoPhillips to drill for oil in the so-called Willow project, and urged the White House and the Interior Department to approve the project, which they did.

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 include Republicans. Her chief of staff, Alex Ortiz, was chief of staff to her predecessor Don Young. In April 2023, Ortiz left her congressional office to take a position with her campaign in Southeast Alaska.

COVID-19 policy
On January 31, 2023, Peltola voted against the Freedom for Health Care Workers Act, a bill to lift COVID-19 vaccine mandates for healthcare workers.

On February 1, 2023, Peltola voted against a resolution to end the COVID-19 national emergency.

Environment
Peltola is a supporter of the Willow Project and increased oil development within the National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska.

Fisheries
Peltola has focused on fisheries in her election campaigns. 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, and supports amending the act to prioritize the environment.

Gun rights
On June 13, 2023, Peltola, along with one other Democrat, Jared Golden of Maine, voted with Republicans for H.J. Res. 44, a bill which attempted to repeal the ATF's new regulations regarding pistol braces.

Immigration
On February 9, 2023, Peltola voted against a resolution condemning the Local Resident Voting Rights Amendment Act of 2022, the District of Columbia's plan to allow non-citizens to vote in local elections.

On May 8, 2024, Peltola voted against the "Equal Representation Act." This proposed law would have required that, when the government counted the population of each state to determine the appropriate number of U.S. Representatives, noncitizens who are ineligible to vote would be excluded from the count.

Syria
In 2023, Peltola voted against H.Con.Res. 21, which directed President Joe Biden to remove U.S. troops from Syria within 180 days.

LGBT rights
On December 8, 2022, Peltola voted in favor of the Respect for Marriage Act, which repealed the Defense of Marriage Act and mandated federal recognition of same-sex and interracial marriages. On April 20, 2023, Peltola voted against the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, which would have required individuals participating in competitive sports to compete in the category associated with their assigned sex rather than gender identity. She described the bill as "bullying". Referring to the bill's focus on the transgender community, Peltola stated, "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."

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

Personal life
Peltola is the first U.S. Representative from Alaska to be born in the state. She now resides in Bethel. An Alaska Native, Peltola is a tribal member of the Orutsararmiut Native Council. She is a member of the Orthodox Church in America.

Family
She 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 on the evening of September 13, 2023, while awaiting rescue following the crashing of a plane he had been flying.

Electoral history
Note: election was to fill four seats with 2-year terms and two seats with 1-year terms. Candidates were given the choice of which to fill on the basis of their vote-count, with the highest vote-getters being given first-preference to decide which length of a term they wanted to fill. Mary Sattler (Mary 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.