Wonder Woman of the Week: Mary Peltola

Our Wonder Woman this week is a politician who breaks the mold in a world of corrupt international politics to bring small-town values thousands of years old (possibly tens of thousands of years old) to the federal level. A real-life Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, this week's spotlight is a Congresswoman from humble beginnings who dared to deliver indigenous roots to the US Capitol. Mary Peltola was born in Anchorage, Alaska in 1973 to a Yupik mother and a German-American father and lived in several towns before settling in Bethel with the family.

Peltola left Alaska to attend college in Colorado to study elementary education; but frequently returned to Alaska as a student to work for the states' Fish & Game, later studying at Alaskan universities and assisting in Alaskan congressional campaigns as well as local elections. In 1998, Peltola earned a spot in the Alaska State House of Representatives. During her time in the State House, Peltola served on several committees including Finances, Resources, and Health and Social Services.

In 2010, Peltola assisted center-right Lisa Murkowski in the later's successful write-in campaign to challenge the far right candidate after leaving State Congress to become a member of the Bethel City Counsel then a political lobbyist. In 2017, Peltoloa focues on tribal issues as an executive director of the Lower Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission followed by serving as a judge on the Orutsararmiut Native Council Tribal Court.

In 2022, the longest serving Republican in US Congress Don Young of Alaska died in office, forcing a special election to replace him before a general election could be held. Of fifty candidate, Mary Peltola became one of three finalists to run in the run-off election and won the seat becoming the first Native Alaskan to serve in Congress (and only the fifth Alaskan due to statehood in 1959 and Don Young's service that began in the 1970's). Peltola's first successful bill passed in office was one aimed at addressing food security among military veterans. During the 2022 railworkers strike, Peltola was among only eight House Democrats who voted against an oppressive contract chage that would award zero paid sick days to railroad workers.