Scoop: Mary Peltola moves toward Alaska Senate campaign
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Former Rep. Mary Peltola (D-Alaska) is taking concrete steps toward a Senate run, including interviewing potential campaign managers, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: Peltola is expected to make a formal announcement challenging Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) this month, according to two people familiar with the matter.
- Landing Peltola in Alaska would give Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) another opportunity to go on offense in 2026, as he looks to recruit his way out of a difficult map.
- Peltola won two House elections in Alaska before narrowly losing in 2024 to Rep. Nick Begich (R-Alaska) under the state's ranked-choice voting system. President Trump carried the state by 13 percentage points in 2024.
Driving the news: Peltola has been interviewing potential campaign managers, though she has kept it vague whether the role would be for a Senate or gubernatorial bid, according to one of the people familiar with the matter.
- But she has also indicated to allies that she is leaning toward a Senate run, according to two additional people familiar with the matter. Peltola, and one of her top aides, did not respond to requests for comment. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee did not comment.
- The National Republican Senatorial Committee has been preparing for Peltola to enter the Senate race for months and is expected to have attack lines ready as soon as she announces.
- Nonprofit organizations associated with Schumer spent some $1.5 million last year year to soften up Sullivan, including a Grinch-themed ad hitting him for raising costs over the holidays.
Between the lines: After losing her House seat in 2024, Peltola joined Holland & Hart — a law firm with a lobbying practice — as their senior director of Alaska affairs in March 2025.
- Subject to a one-year cooling-off period, she is barred from formally lobbying her former congressional colleagues.
The bottom line: Schumer has been trying to convince Pelota to plunge into the race since the summer and sees a plausible path to victory.
- Alaska's ranked-choice voting system can allow a Democrat to win statewide even in a red-leaning state, particularly if Republicans are divided.
- But Sullivan has yet to draw a serious GOP challenger.
