Former Alaska congresswoman Mary Peltola is running for the US Senate in 2026, where she will compete against Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan. Peltola is making headlines as she challenges Sullivan for Alaska’s US Senate seat in a race that has also drawn Republican candidate Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. A member of the Democratic party, Peltola’s campaign focuses on lowering living costs, protecting fisheries, and making housing more affordable, having secured nearly 50 percent of the votes in Alaska’s August primary. The high-profile race has garnered nationwide attention, underscored by a recent rally held by President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance in support of the incumbent.

Peltola represented Alaska in the US House of Representatives from 2022 to 2025, after winning a special election to succeed the late Congressman Don Young. As the first Alaska Native elected to Congress, her political career began in 1999 with her election to the Alaska House of Representatives, where she served for a decade before joining the Bethel City Council and later becoming executive director of the Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission. She lost her House re-election bid to Republican Nick Begich and left office in January 2025.

Born in Anchorage in 1973, Peltola grew up along the Kuskokwim River as a member of the Yup’ik indigenous community. Her childhood experiences fishing salmon with her father deeply shaped her lifelong interest in fisheries and rural Alaskan communities. After attending several Alaskan and Colorado universities during the 1990s, she raised four biological children and three stepchildren with her late husband, Eugene Peltola Jr. Her campaign utilizes the slogan Fish, Family, Freedom, arguing that federal policies must better cater to the unique needs of the state.

Her policy platform places heavy emphasis on fisheries, the cost of living, and energy affordability. Peltola favors banning factory trawling, reducing bycatch, and increasing funding for fish stock assessments while supporting families affected by declining populations. Economically, she advocates for expanding the Child Tax Credit, increasing childcare access, and cutting income taxes for middle-class Alaskans. She also supports responsible oil and gas development, including the Willow project, alongside investments in wind, solar, geothermal, and rural electricity access.

On national and trade issues, Peltola has taken nuanced stances on immigration, previously expressing a desire to prioritize local workers while supporting certain bipartisan border packages and opposing stricter enforcement measures. She has criticized broad tariffs for harming Alaska’s crucial seafood export industry, opposed the US war with Iran over its impact on fuel prices, and called for increased congressional oversight of military actions. Additionally, she has raised concerns regarding artificial intelligence, arguing that technology companies building data centers should cover their own energy costs rather than passing expenses on to regular consumers.