After defeating Sarah Palin, Mary Peltola will become the first Alaska Native in Congress — and the first Democrat to represent Alaska in the U.S. House in 50 years.
Liz Ruskin/Alaska Public Media
This summer, though, Peltola had been away, campaigning for Alaska's sole seat in the U.S. House. She finally flew home to Bethel in late August and was itching to get on the water. "I'm Mary Peltola and here's why I'm running for Don Young's seat in Congress," she said, over and over, striving for just the right level of energy.
Peltola turned 49 last Wednesday, the same day she became congresswoman-elect of the 49th state. Born Mary Sattler, she's the daughter of a Yup'ik mom and a Nebraskan dad who went north to teach school and later became a Bush pilot. Peltola went away to college, but at age 24 ran for state House and beat an incumbent. She stayed in office for a decade, overlapping with then-Gov. Palin. They bonded in the state Capitol, as two pregnant moms in office. When Palin left Juneau for the campaign trail, Peltola said, she bequeathed her backyard trampoline to Peltola.
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