Breakthrough Alaska congresswoman faces personal tragedy as she faces tough re-election bid

JUNEAU, Alaska — Alannah Hurley is still choked up remembering Democrat Mary Peltola’s election to Alaska’s only U.S. House seat in 2022. Hurley, like Peltola, is Yup’ik and called Peltola’s election — in which she became the first Native of Alaska from Congress – monumental for Hurley and her daughters.

“Finally, we have someone in Congress who looks like us, talks like us, grew up like us and lived experience, understanding the beauty and challenges of what it means to be Native in this state and nation,” Hurley. said.

Peltola, 51, is in a tough re-election battle against Republican Nick Begich in a high-stakes race that could help determine whether Republicans or Democrats control the House. The campaign follows a year of intense personal tragedy for the MP, who lost her mother and husband, Eugene Peltola, within four months of 2023.

Peltola called the weeks surrounding her husband’s death in a small plane crash some of the most difficult of her life. She returned to Washington about a month later, arriving amid a period of Republican infighting over the House speakership. She said then that it was also a difficult time for the country and that she was “ready to get to work”.

While Peltola hasn’t spoken much publicly about managing her pain in the glare of the public eye, people who know her well say they’ve been surprised by her resilience.

“When I think about how Mary has kept her head up through everything she’s been through the last two years, I’m incredibly proud of her,” said Alaska’s senior U.S. senator, Republican Lisa Murkowski, who met a first time on Peltola. about 25 years ago when they were in the state legislature and bonded as mothers with the boys.

“He wasn’t allowed to grieve the way most people would be allowed to grieve. It had to be tough. She had to be there at her place of work.”

Murkowski, a moderate who has at times contradicted her own party, including embracing former President Donald Trump, endorsed Peltola two years ago and has endorsed her again. She noted the hyper-partisan state of politics today, where each party seeks to deny the other a win.

“That’s not going to separate me from being able to say, ‘This is a good woman, a strong Alaskan who focused on her state, who did good for us,'” Murkowski said.

Alaska’s other Republican senator, Dan Sullivan, endorsed Begich, a businessman from a family of prominent Democrats, including his late grandfather Nick, who once served in the House, and uncle Mark, a former U.S. senator.

Begich, who ran against Peltola in 2022 in races that included former Republican Gov. Sarah Palin, said he doesn’t think Peltola has done enough to push back against actions taken by the Biden administration that have limited resource development in the state.

He’s also trying a different approach than 2022, which was the first year the election was conducted under a voter-approved system of open primaries and ranked-choice general elections. Trump, who has criticized ranked-choice voting, previously blamed Begich for costing Republicans the seat by staying in the race that year.

This time around, Begich sought to shore up his conservative support after the primary in which he was the top Republican, second only to Peltola. Two other Republicans who were set to advance to the general election withdrew, leaving two candidates with a combined 1 percent of the vote, including Alaska Independence Party Chairman John Wayne Howe and Eric Hafner, an unopposed Democrat. apparent ties to Alaska, who is serving time in a New York prison, to be on the Nov. 5 ballot.

The Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC aligned with Republican House leaders, ran an ad aimed at Trump supporters that said a vote for Peltola would be like canceling their vote for Trump.

Peltola is trying to prove that his special and regular election won in 2022 after the death of longtime Republican Rep. Don Young was not a “wash” as Trump suggested during a recent rally for Begich. While acknowledging her trailblazing status and the significance she has to many of her supporters, she also stressed 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 told me that I would only be interested in working on Native issues or only working on issues that relate to rural Alaska,” Peltola said in a speech in October addressed to the Alaska Federation. Native Conference, a major annual gathering. “And I’m so honored to be able to deliver messages to people — Native people care about the health of an entire community, the health of an entire environment, the health of our entire society.

“We know we are not a singular group. We know everything is connected. Everyone is connected.”

During this year’s campaign, Peltola angered some Democrats by refusing to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris for president, although she also said she would not vote for Trump. She highlighted her role as part of Alaska’s congressional delegation in urging 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 has broad support from politicians and labor groups in the state. Willow’s approval is being challenged in court by environmental groups who say it runs counter to President Joe Biden’s pledges to address climate concerns.

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

“Hey, if we can survive in Alaska 12,000 years from now, we know how to find the polling place, we know how to cast a ballot. We know how to do that,” she told the group.

Officials said they were working to make sure everyone could vote in the Nov. 5 election, following instances in recent elections where some polling stations in rural Native communities opened late or didn’t open at all .

Hurley, an independent from a fishing community in southwest Alaska, said he thinks Peltola has done a good job working on the issues rather than focusing on party politics. She said Peltola went above and beyond what could be expected after the losses she experienced.

Hurley denounced the “disgraceful” criticism Peltola received for leaving Washington in July to return home to fish. The announcement from Peltola’s office that he would spend a week “putting fish with his family to fill the freezers for the winter” also came as pressure mounted for Biden not to seek re-election.

Hurley said that for native people, subsistence is not just fishing, but a connection to one’s land and culture.

“I can’t respect her more because I make sure she has time — and she takes care of her office at the same time — because she has time to fuel that connection or keep that connection,” she said.