Greetings all. Yes, with our help, Alaska may be one of the big success stories for us this November. Alaska! We have a very real chance to win both the Senate and gubernatorial race in this state that Trump won by 13 points in 2024. Leading the way for us there is Mary Peltola, who in a cycle of incredibly talented candidates, is one our very best and most inspiring. I am grateful she took the time in these frenetic closing days to speak to with us. Enjoy our discussion, and let’s do everything we can to help Mary close strong and win.
A few highlights from our conversation:
Well, with just weeks to go, things do feel really good here in Alaska.
Our ground game is very, very strong. We have over 15,000 Alaskans who have signed up to volunteer. They're really knocking doors. They're really calling people. I met a woman a couple weeks ago in Palmer, a community outside of Anchorage, and she told me she'd never participated in a campaign before except to vote. And she had already knocked on doors for me 12 times already.
Now that we're in the final stretch here, it's the most exciting time of the campaign for me as a candidate because I'm really out in the hinterlands, in the communities, talking with people face to face. 82% of our communities in Alaska are only accessible by air.
I asked Mary about her opponent, and how he had let the people of Alaska down. Here is what she said:
Everything from clawing back money that had been promised for public broadcasting, which goes to really life and death issues for us here in Alaska. Weather updates, or knowing what the windchill factor is on any given day.
It's already winter here again in Alaska. Last winter was a really deep, cold winter. And this one, it's about two weeks early this season. We're back in wintertime. But these radio stations, they really are the lifeblood of our communities. He clawed back money for public radio stations across Alaska. He made draconian cuts to health care benefits, Medicaid. 10,000 Alaskans are off of Medicaid already. A third of us rely on Medicaid benefits. Tens of thousands of Alaskans no longer have private health insurance. We need to restore the ACA tax credits. He has been a willing partner all along the way with all of the injurious things that have happened to Alaskans.
I stopped using the word special interest because if you're [a speaker of] English as a second language, or an English language learner, special interest might sound positive. I've just started calling it corporate greed. Which is exactly what it is. And every time Dan Sullivan has a chance to vote in favor of corporate greed and to hurt Alaskan families, he has been an affirmative vote for that every step of the way.
Here’s the latest, encouraging polling from Alaska. Note that Alaska has ranked choice voting, which is why there is a second and final round in some of the polls.
Here is Mary’s latest ad:
There are a few ways to support Mary and Alaska Dems today:
Give to the Peltola campaign directly
here.Contribute to our
Winning the Senate Fundwhich is currently supporting the six candidates most likely to flip Senate seats - Sherrod Brown (OH), Roy Cooper (NC), Troy Jackson (ME), Mary Peltola (AK), James Talarico (TX), and Josh Turek (IA).Donate to our new
Winning Alaska Fund, which splits your contribution evenly between Mary Peltola, Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins for Governor, and the Alaska Democratic Party.
To learn more head to her campaign website where you can also sign up to volunteer.
For more on why 2026 is such a year of opportunity for us in Alaska watch my recent interview with Alaska Dem Chair Eric Croft:
Enjoy this new discussion with one of our most inspiring candidates this cycle, Mary Peltola. Please share this video with others, hit like so more will see it, consider supporting Mary and the Alaska Dems today, and keep working hard all. For we have a country to save, and elections like Senate race to win all across the country this November, together! - Simon
“My Story” from MaryPeltola.com: I’m Mary Peltola. I’m running for Senate because I’ve seen firsthand how government is failing Alaskans.
I grew up on the Kuskokwim, fishing salmon with my father. Buzzy and I raised our seven kids here and spent long summer days at fish camp. Fishing with family is where Alaskans learn life’s lessons.
Life is difficult here. Alaskans know that, and we know that we have to take care of each other. We know no one from the Lower 48 is coming to save us. In Alaska, we pitch in to bail out a stranger’s swamping boat. We know that the next swamped boat could be ours.
Growing up, Alaska was a place of abundance. Now, we have scarcity. Many of our fish stocks and fish returns have been decimated. The salmon, large game, and migratory birds that used to fill our freezers are harder to find. So people are forced to buy more groceries, and are met with crushing prices.
And I’ve got to tell you, it’s not just that politicians in DC don’t care that we’re paying 17 bucks for a gallon of milk in rural Alaska, they don’t believe us. They’re more focused on their stock portfolios than our wallets.
Our delegation used to stand up to their party to put Alaska first. Ted Stevens and Don Young ignored Lower 48 partisanship to fight for things like public media and disaster relief because rural Alaska depends on them. Our delegation used to be strong and tough – as Don would say, “small but mighty” – now it’s weak, partisan, and beholden to Lower 48 donors.
This is the fight for our future. My agenda for Alaska will always be fish, family, and freedom. But our future also depends on fixing the rigged system in DC that’s shutting down Alaska while politicians feather their own nest.
DC people will be pissed that I’m focusing on their self-dealing, sharing what I’ve seen firsthand. They’re going to complain that I’m proposing term limits. But it’s time – politicians and their millionaire and billionaire donors are the only ones this broken system works for.
It’s time for a new approach. Systemic change is the only way to bring down grocery costs, ban factory trawling, lower energy & healthcare costs, and build new housing Alaskans can afford. Systemic change is the only way to fill our homes with abundance again.
I need you all to see what I’ve seen and to join me in fixing this broken system. 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.
Ted Stevens often said, “To hell with politics, put Alaska first.” It’s about time Alaskans teach the rest of the country what Alaska first and, really, America first looks like.
