Who is Mary Peltola, the Democratic candidate of native origins running for the Senate in Alaska

It is neck and neck in Alaska in the Senate race between the Republican candidate Dan Sullivan and the Democrat Mary Peltola: the official outcome of the challenge will take days, if not weeks. Peltola represents one of the most singular and contradictory figures in the political landscape of his state. Fifty-three years old, already a member of the Federal Chamber between 2022 and 2025 and now a candidate for the Senate, she has built her political success on her visceral connection with the territory and her origins. Daughter of a Yupik woman and a white man, she was born in Anchorage and raised in rural villages living on traditional hunting and fishing, elements which she then transferred to an atypical political platform: she is in fact in favor of the use of weapons and the exploitation of oil and gas, but at the same time a staunch champion of the environment and salmon fishing, a pillar of native subsistence.

This identity as a candidate strongly rooted in the territory and independent had led her to accumulate a significant advantage in the polls over her Republican rival Dan S. Sullivan. However, his campaign was hit by a scandal. A journalistic investigation has in fact revealed that, with the knowledge of Peltola herself, some of her close collaborators - including former manager Elisa Rios, who was later fired and became the main source of the scoop - had secretly recruited an elderly teacher of the same name as her rival, Dan J. Sullivan Jr., to include him on the ballot paper, confuse voters and steal votes from the Republican candidate.

The discovery of the operation, coordinated together with representatives of the Democratic Senate Campaigns Committee, triggered a serious crisis. Although it was a non-illegal ploy and historically used by both parties, the ethical impact reduced Peltola's chances of victory and exposed his side to very harsh reactions from the Republicans. Donald Trump called for the candidate's exclusion from the lists and her indictment, while Alaska governor Mike Dunleavy launched an official investigation. The scandal has also put the spotlight back on Peltola's angular character, described by his own former collaborators as a figure with a historically troubled relationship with the staff and prone to sudden explosions of anger.