Mary
Peltola

Mary Peltola is Yup’ik Alaska Native, a strong salmon advocate, and a former state House representative who aims to protect Alaska’s environment and way of life for generations to come.

Just two years after serving as an intern for the Alaska legislature, Peltola was elected to the Alaska House of Representatives, representing the Bethel region. Peltola then joined the Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, where, as executive director, she helped mobilize 118 Tribes and rural Alaskans to advocate for the protection of salmon runs in Western Alaska. She has served on the Orutsararmiut Native Council Tribal Court and the Bethel City Council, and on the boards of the Nature Conservancy, the Alaska Humanities Forum, the Alaska Children’s Trust, and the Russian Orthodox Sacred Sites in Alaska.

As a representative, Peltola will work to create resilient food systems, protect Alaska’s fisheries, and invest in the state’s renewable energy resources, as a way to improve the resiliency of Alaskan communities to the already-visible impacts of climate change.

Peltola joins the U.S. House after winning the special and general elections to fill the seat of the late Representative Don Young, who earned a 10% lifetime score on LCV’s National Environmental Scorecard.

In her own words:

“I wanted to elevate the issues of climate change and low ocean productivity, and the subsequent food security issues. My vision for Alaska is to find bipartisan solutions to move towards inclusivity and abundance. These are the keys to maintaining clear water and air, healthy salmon habitat, addressing climate change, and a strong democracy.”
– The Alaska Center Press Release