Mary Peltola
Democratic former US Representative for Alaska and 2026 US Senate nominee.
Mary Peltola finished election night on 3 November 2026 narrowly ahead of Senator Dan S. Sullivan on an incomplete Alaska count, and her Senate race stays uncalled until the ranked-choice tabulation on 18 November.
Last refreshed: 5 November 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
Can the first Alaska Native congresswoman flip a Republican Senate seat in 2026?
Timeline for Mary Peltola
Led on first choices 48.2% to 47.9%
US Midterms 2026: Peltola leads Sullivan by 0.3 pointsMentioned in: SLF's final $43.9m: 7 of 10 targets won
US Midterms 2026Mentioned in: SLF opens a $4.06m South Carolina front
US Midterms 2026SLF funds new PACs in Nebraska and Maine
US Midterms 2026Musk's America PAC books $1.43m of mail
US Midterms 2026Background
Mary Peltola is a Democratic former US Representative for Alaska and the party's 2026 Senate nominee. Her race against Senator Dan S. Sullivan was uncalled on 5 November, with Peltola ahead on first choices and the ranked-choice tabulation due on 18 November.
Peltola is Yup'ik. In 2022 she became the first Alaska Native elected to Congress, beating Sarah Palin in both the special and general elections for the state's single House seat, and she served until 2025.
Her Senate bid ran through an unusual ballot. A same-name Republican Challenger to Sullivan was struck off and then restored by the Alaska Supreme Court in June 2026, putting two Dan Sullivans on a ranked-choice ballot beside her. A win would give Democrats a 55th Senate seat.
Peltola's narrow lead awaits ranked choices
Peltola went into the count with a lead of 0.3 points on first choices. Neither she nor Sullivan reached half the vote, so the minor names' ballots will be redistributed by later preference at the state's 18 November 2026 tabulation. Certification is planned by 25 November.
One of those other names is a namesake of her opponent. That namesake, Dan J. Sullivan, a Republican and former teacher from Petersburg, was removed by election officials in June and put back by the state's highest court on 29 June; Cook Political Report then rated Peltola's race a Toss-up. How his voters ranked their second choices now bears directly on Peltola's margin.
Republican groups targeted Peltola late
Peltola became a Republican spending target in the autumn of 2026. On 6 October Sabato's Crystal Ball moved her race from Toss Up to Leans Democratic. By 15 October the Senate Leadership Fund had set up Fair Deal Alaska, a committee with a home-state name, to campaign against her, one of three such committees it funded in Senate states.
The fund itself spent $1.80m against Peltola from 27 October to 1 November, part of $43.9m it reported that week. She still finished first on election night.
Who is Mary Peltola and what did she achieve in Congress?
What are Mary Peltola's chances in the 2026 Alaska Senate race?
Is Mary Peltola Alaska Native?
Did Mary Peltola beat Sarah Palin?
Why did Alaska's Senate race become a Toss-up?
Written with AI from Lowdown's published reporting. Not individually reviewed by an editor. Updated 5 November 2026. Editorial standards.