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- By Levi Rickert
Native Vote 2024. Rep. Mary Peltola (D-Alaska), the first Alaska Native to serve in Congress, was defeated in the November 5 election by Republican Nick Begich. The Associated Press called the race 15 days after ballots were cast.
With more than 98% of votes counted, Begich led with 164,111 votes (51.3%) to Peltola's 155,763 (48.7%). The race was called on Wednesday, the same day that served as the deadline for mailed ballots from overseas to be received by election officials.
Peltola, a member of the Yup’ik community, made history when she won a 2022 special election following the unexpected death of Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), who had held the seat for 49 years. She secured a full term later that year after defeating Begich and former Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin, who also served as governor of Alaska from 2006 to 2009.
Reflecting on her time in office, Peltola said serving Alaskans as part of the state’s three-person congressional delegation had been "the honor of my life."
“Nick, I’m rooting for you,” she said. “Please don’t forget when D.C. people keep telling you that you are one of three, you are actually one of more than 700,000 Alaskans who are ready to fight for our state, myself included.”
After winning the 2022 special election, Peltola spoke with Native News Online about being a pro-fish candidate.
"My relationship to salmon goes back to my mother and our language. The generic word for fish is also a generic word for food. Fish is a huge part of our diet. Being a Yup’ik person meant putting up hundreds and hundreds of fish for the winter that would take us through the winter. Dry salmon is a huge part of our diet. And it's something that we've been missing for the last 13 years," Peltola said. "Alaska has a very long relationship with salmon. A lot of our identities are tied to salmon. We have a commercial relationship with salmon, and it is a critical part of our economy."
Begich was backed by President-elect Donald Trump who beat Vice President Kamala Harris in Alaska by 13%,
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