Former Alaska Representative Mary Peltola launched a campaign Monday to challenge Republican Dan Sullivan for one of Alaska’s Senate seats, putting the race in play for Democrats in November’s midterms.
“Systemic change is the only way to bring down grocery costs, save our fisheries, lower energy prices and build new housing Alaskans can afford,” Peltola said in a video announcing her candidacy. “No one from the Lower 48 is coming to save us, but I know this in my bones, there is no group of people more ready to save ourselves than Alaskans.”
Peltola held Alaska’s sole House seat until narrowly losing to a Republican in 2024. Democrats for months tried to recruit Peltola, who was also considering a bid for governor.
While President Donald Trump won Alaska by 13 points in 2024, the state’s down-ballot politics are often more issue-based than ideological. Peltola, an Alaskan Native, ran her previous campaigns on “fish, family and freedom” as a way to frame positions on issues like health care, taxes and abortion that are in line with the Democratic mainstream — as well as support for oil drilling and gun ownership that can be at odds with the rest of her party.
Early polling shows Sullivan vulnerable to a Peltola challenge, and Republicans across the country are preparing for midterms that have historically been difficult for the party in power. Democrats need to net four seats to take back the Senate majority.
Alaskans who get health insurance through the Affordable Care Act face some of the highest premiums in America after this month’s expiration of Biden-era subsidies. Sullivan, who had previously sought to repeal the ACA, voted last month to start debate on a Democratic proposal to extend expanded ACA subsidies for three years.
The state, which already faces high prices for consumer goods, has also been hit harder than others by Trump’s tariffs, particularly on Canada. Sullivan voted with Trump to keep the tariffs against Canada in place, while the state’s senior senator, Lisa Murkowski, also a Republican, voted to nix them.
Sullivan, like the rest of Alaska’s congressional delegation, also supports opening up more of Alaska to oil and gas drilling — a key industry in the resource-rich state.
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