Democrats just got a boost in their effort to reclaim control of the Senate. Democratic former Rep. Mary Peltola is jumping into Alaska's Senate race against Republican incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan. Her entry gives Democrats a faint but real opening in one of the nation's reddest corners of the map, the Wall Street Journal reports. Peltola, 52, announced Monday that she will run on a message of putting Alaska's priorities first.
- "My agenda for Alaska will always be fish, family and freedom," she said, per the Anchorage Daily News. "But our future also depends on fixing the rigged system in DC that's shutting down Alaska, while politicians feather their own nest."
National Democrats had aggressively courted her as they look beyond traditional swing states and hunt for long-shot pickups in places like Alaska, Iowa, and Ohio. Republicans hold the Senate 53–47, and Democrats would need to net at least four seats while defending vulnerable incumbents in states such as Georgia and Michigan. In Alaska, Sullivan is already under fire from Democratic-aligned groups, which have poured more than $1 million into ads tying him to high energy, healthcare, and living costs. Sullivan has acknowledged those strains and broke with most of his party to back a failed Democratic bill extending enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies, saying Alaska was "hurting" after their expiration.
Peltola, a former state legislator, made history in 2022 as the first Alaska Native to represent the state in Congress and as the first woman to hold the state's only seat in the House. She beat Republican former Gov. Sarah Palin under Alaska's ranked-choice system twice—first in a special election after the death of GOP Rep. Don Young, who held the seat for 49 years, then in the general election. She lost her House seat in 2024 to Republican Rep. Nick Begich III. The AP notes that her time in Congress involved personal tragedies. Her mother died in 2023 and her husband died in a plane crash later that year.
Peltola, who has emphasized salmon protection and abortion rights—issues that polling suggests resonate with many Alaskans—has previously enjoyed crossover backing, including a mutual endorsement alliance with Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski. In a video announcing her campaign on Monday, she also focused on affordability, the AP reports. "It's not just that politicians in DC don't care that we're paying $17 for a gallon of milk in rural Alaska," she said. "They don't even believe us. They're more focused on their stock portfolios than our bank accounts."
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
