Barrier-breaking Alaska congresswoman grapples with personal tragedy as she faces a difficult re-election bid

JUNE, Alaska – Alannah Hurley still can’t contain herself when she remembers the election of Democrat Mary Peltola to the only seat in the Alaska House of Representatives in 2022. Hurley, like Peltola, is Yup’ik and called Peltola’s election – in which she became the first Alaskan in Congress – monumental for Hurley and her daughters.

“We finally have someone in Congress who looks like us, talks like us, grew up like us and has the experience of understanding the beauty and challenges of being Native in this state and nation,” Hurley said.

Peltola, 51, is in a tight reelection fight against Republican Nick Begich in a high-stakes race that could help determine whether Republicans or Democrats take the House. The campaign follows a year of intense personal tragedy for the lawmaker, who lost her mother in 2023 and her husband, Eugene Peltola, within four months of each other.

Peltola described the weeks leading up to her husband’s death in a small plane crash as some of the most difficult of her life. She returned to Washington about a month later, arriving at a time of conflict among Republicans over the leadership of the House. She then said that it was also a difficult time for the country and that she was “ready to get to work.”

Although Peltola hasn’t spoken much publicly about dealing with her grief in the public glare, people who know her well say they have been struck by her resilience.

“When I think about how Mary has kept her head up through everything she’s been through over the last few years, I’m incredibly proud of her,” said Alaska Republican state Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who met Peltola for the first time. about 25 years ago when they served in the state legislature and bonded as mothers with their boys.

“She wasn’t allowed to grieve the way most people do. She had to be tough. She had to be present in her work.

Murkowski, a moderate who has at times opposed his own party, including one that included former President Donald Trump, supported Peltola two years ago and continues to support her. She drew attention to the hyper-partisan state of today’s politics, in which each side tries to deprive the other of victory.

“It won’t stop me from saying, ‘She’s a good woman, a strong Alaskan, who focused on her state and did well for us,’” Murkowski said.

Another Republican senator from Alaska, Dan Sullivan, has endorsed Begich, a businessman from a family of prominent Democrats, including his late grandfather Nick, who was once a member of the House of Representatives, and his uncle Mark, a former U.S. senator.

Begich, who ran against Peltola in 2022 in former Republican Gov. Sarah Palin’s race, said he doesn’t think Peltola has done enough to push back against actions taken by the Biden administration that limit the development of the state’s resources.

He is also trying a different tactic than in 2022, which was the first year the election was conducted under the voter-approved system of open primaries and ranked-choice general elections. Trump, who has opposed ranked-choice voting, previously blamed Begich for leaving Republicans in the race this year costing Republicans the seat.

This time, Begich tried to consolidate conservative support after the primaries in which he was the leading Republican, giving way to Peltola. Two other Republicans who were expected to advance to the general election withdrew, allowing the two candidates to gain a combined 1% of the vote, including Alaska Independence Party Chairman John Wayne Howe and Eric Hafner, a Democrat with no ties to Alaska who is serving time in a New York prison. York, will be elected on November 5.

The Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC working with House Republican leaders, ran an ad aimed at Trump supporters pointing out that voting for Peltola would be tantamount to invalidating their vote for Trump.

Peltola is seeking to prove that her exceptional and consistent 2022 election victories following the death of longtime Republican Don Young were not a “fluke,” as Trump suggested during a recent televised rally on behalf of the Begis. While she acknowledged that she is a trailblazer and that she matters to many of her supporters, she also emphasized that her job is to represent all Alaskans and emphasized her willingness to work across party lines. Most registered voters in Alaska are not affiliated with a party.

“When I first ran for office, people predicted that I would be interested in working solely on Native issues or working on issues related to rural Alaska,” Peltola said in an October speech to the Federation of Alaska Native Conference, an important annual meeting. “I am honored to give people the message: Indigenous people care about the health of the entire community, the health of the entire environment, the health of the entire society.

“We know we are not one group. We know that everything is interconnected. Everyone is connected.”

During this year’s campaign, Peltola angered some Democrats by refusing to support Vice President Kamala Harris in the presidential election, although she also said she would not vote for Trump. She highlighted her role as a member of Alaska’s congressional delegation in pushing for the Biden administration to approve the massive Willow oil project on Alaska’s North Slope. The project, supported by many Alaska Native communities and groups in the region, also enjoys broad support from politicians and professional groups in the state. Willow’s approval is being challenged in court by environmental groups who say it goes against President Joe Biden’s promises to address climate issues.

Both Peltola’s and Begich’s campaigns aimed to rally supporters in a race that has drawn significant interest from outside groups. The results may not be known until November 20, when the ranking tables will be announced. Peltola, endorsed by the Federation of Alaska Natives, predicted the seat would be won by “dozens of votes.”

“Hey, if we can survive in Alaska for over 12,000 years, we know how to find a polling place, we know how to mail in a ballot. We know how to do it,” she told the group.

Officials say they are working to ensure everyone can vote in the Nov. 5 election, after some polling places in rural Native communities opened late or did not open at all in the last election.

Hurley, an independent from a fishing community in southwest Alaska, said Peltola did a good job of working on specific issues rather than focusing on partisan politics. She said that after the losses she experienced, Peltola “went above and beyond what could be expected.”

Hurley called “disgraceful” the criticism Peltola received for leaving Washington in July and returning home to fish. The announcement by Peltola’s office that she would spend a week “raising fish with her family to fill their freezers for the winter” also came amid growing pressure on Biden not to seek re-election.

For indigenous people, Hurley said, livelihood is not just about fishing, but about connecting with the land and their culture.

“I couldn’t respect her more for making sure that she has the time — and at the same time taking care of her office — making sure that she has the time to maintain or maintain contact,” she said.