Native Vote 2024. The single congressional seat in Alaska is yet to be called the November 5 election. At stake is the seat now held by Democrat Rep. Mary Peltola (Yup’ik), the first and only Alaska Native to serve in Congress.
The latest numbers show Peltola is trailing her Republican challenger Nick Begich III by 9,175 votes, according to the New York Times on Saturday morning.
Peltola sent an email out on Wednesday that read: "Across Alaska, thousands of in-person votes remain to be counted, and they’re coming from areas with large Alaska Native populations (where I often perform best)."
The current vote tally is just first-choice ballots. If no candidate gets more than 50 percent of the vote, ranked choice tabulation will determine the winner on Nov. 20.
Peltola was born in Alaska and raised on the Kuskokwim River in Kwethluk, Tuntutuliak, Platinum, and Bethel. Before representing Alaska, Peltola 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.
Peltola upset Republican Sarah Palin in the August 2022 special election to become the first Alaska Native, first woman, and first Democrat since 1972 to represent Alaska in Congress.
In Congress, Peltola built budget consensus for rural Alaska, opened an Office of Food Security, gained $46 million for Alaska’s border, and increased renewable energy in the state.
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The devastating impact of COVID-19 accelerated the loss of Native elders and with them, irreplaceable cultural knowledge. Yet across tribal communities, innovative leaders are fighting back, reclaiming traditional food systems and breathing new life into Native languages. These aren't just cultural preservation efforts—they're powerful pathways to community health, healing, and resilience.
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The stakes couldn't be higher. Native languages are being lost at an alarming rate. Food insecurity plagues many tribal communities. But solutions are emerging, and these stories need to be told.
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