United States Senate candidate Mary Peltola continued her campaign tour of Southeast Alaska with a stop in Sitka yesterday/on Thursday.
In a meet and greet at the Alaska Native Brotherhood Hall, the former Democratic representative spoke to a crowd of around 100 Sitkans. She said when she served as Alaska’s lone representative until 2024, she worked well with Senators Lisa Murkowski and her now opponent, Dan Sullivan.
“We were in lockstep, and I think that Dan Sullivan and I surprised each other with how well we worked together. I like to joke that we were bad cop, bad cop, and then Lisa was the only good cop,” Peltold said. “But after 2024 when I was no longer in service, 2025 was just a completely different experience.”
Peltola went on to discuss the policy decisions that have troubled her since then, from DOGE cuts and firings of federal workers in the state, to the Big Beautiful Bill, which cut billions from safety net programs like SNAP, Medicare and Medicaid. Peltola said living in a region where most of the land is federal means that federal agencies are partners with Alaska. And federal funding in Alaska is essential.
“Not only do we rely on those employees for every single thing we do, living in a place where it’s 90% federal land, but the federal payments to Alaska, federal jobs, the federal programs, that’s half of our economy across our state,” she said.
“We really rely on our federal government. We cannot afford to have two thirds of our federal delegation, one of our senators, more concerned about the federal deficit than Alaska.”
She said cuts, alongside the rising cost of living, hurt Alaskans, and she would like to be the person in Congress fighting for Alaskans’ needs.
“This is a moral moment, and I know that you all know that, because we wouldn’t have a packed house if it wasn’t a moral moment on a sunny day,” Peltola said, addressing the rare break in Sitka rain. “So, thank you for being here on a sunny day. Thank you for recognizing with me, and many other people, what an important moment this is.”
After a performance from Sitka Native Education Program’s G̲ajaa Héen Dancers, Peltola addressed the crowd for a few minutes, then asked the audience to line up so she could speak with each person face-to-face.
Peltola’s team declined KCAW’s request for an interview. Sitka was the second-to-last stop on her Southeast tour after she visited several other communities, including Petersburg, Wrangell, Ketchikan and Metlakatla. She’ll be in Haines on Saturday, May 30.
