<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola at a campaign event in Bethel on March 15, 2024. (Sage Smiley/KYUK)</figcaption></figure>

With Election Day coming up on Tuesday, Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola sat down with KYUK over the weekend to discuss her reelection campaign and issues impacting her home region – the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta.

Peltola’s top challenger, Republican Nick Begich III of Chugiak, has not responded to KYUK’s request for an interview. Also on the ballot are John Wayne Howe of the Alaskan Independence Party and Eric Hafner, a Democrat who is incarcerated in New York and has never lived in Alaska.

Listen:

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Read a transcript of the Saturday conversation below. It has been lightly edited for clarity and flow, but may contain transcription errors.

KYUK (Sage Smiley): Thank you so much for being here at KYUK today, Representative Peltola. We really appreciate you taking some time to talk to us.

Rep. Mary Peltola: It’s always good to come back.

KYUK: So first of all, we’re near the end of a campaign. How’s that been? It seems like it’s been a lot.

Peltola: It feels never-ending, and it’s really nice to see the light at the end of the tunnel and single digit days ’til the finish here. And you know, I think it’s – just for anybody, when you have $9 million of attack ads, it starts to wear on you after a while, and it starts to wear on your loved ones.

KYUK: So that is something I do want to ask about. You are an at-large representative, representing the entire state. And when I was going around soliciting questions from people, we had someone just be like, “Well, how does she approach representing a state with such political diversity?” How does that impact your campaigning? How do you think about that when you’re doing a campaign like this?

Peltola: Well, we try to make sure we have spaces where neutral spaces, where people from all different backgrounds feel comfortable going. Unfortunately, a lot of those spaces are, like, brew pubs and things like that, you know, in Kodiak and and in Anchorage. But they are family friendly, and we just really work hard to make sure that we’re doing meet and greets that and we’re spreading the word far enough to different universes of people. That’s what they call it in the political world, different universes of people. And we’ve had a really good showing in the Mat-Su Valley. We’ve made a number of appearances out there. We’ve had a number of meet and greets in both Wasilla and Palmer, and just had a great event at the Bear Paw in Wasilla and Jenny Dale came – every time there are people from Bethel or, you know, people from rural Alaska, and that’s always heartwarming. But it’s not easy. It’s not easy representing six, arguably 12, distinct regions where, you know, people in our region aren’t necessarily impressed with infrastructure brought to Southeast or the North Slope or Southcentral. We are really invested in our own regions throughout the state. It’s our identity. It’s our unique economy. So it’s been two years of getting to know the different regions, getting to know the different people within the regions, developing, building those relationships, and trying to build relationships in different sectors. I don’t have a strong background in tourism. I don’t have a strong background in timber, you know, some of the other fields that Alaska needs to represent. But I think being a representative and trying to walk the line between leading and following, listening, and walking a fine line between the different groups that have different interests. And Alaskans are not shy. That is one great thing about Alaskans is they really – if they know you’re in town, they will find you. They have a lot they want to get off their chest, they have a lot of things they want to share, and it’s never enough time. But it’s been really fascinating and interesting getting to know all the other regions of the state, and just really been a learning year.

KYUK: If you could have the campaign focus on some specific things – obviously, campaigns end up focusing on lots of things – but if you could have it focus on specific things in these final days, what would that be?

Peltola: Outmigration. I think outmigration is something that plagues every region of our state and the state as a whole. Our region, the Y-K Delta region is one of the only regions, especially in rural Alaska, that’s growing because we are so, you know, there’s status in being a parent, there’s status in becoming a grandparent. And you have more status the more kids and grandkids you have. And that’s not necessarily the way people see it in other places. I’m really lucky to be from here and have that viewpoint that everybody is a blessing. But we are seeing this negative trend of our young people leaving and people not moving to Alaska. That’s a huge concern for me. I think that we really need to be talking more and finding more solutions on food security, on shipping costs, on energy costs. I pay $1,000 a month for my heating bill in Bethel, and that is not something that is affordable. I think all of us across the state, we don’t have money that isn’t spoken for anymore. Whatever our paycheck is, every penny of that is due on bills, and often we don’t have enough to meet our monthly expenses. These are the things that I want to talk about. These are the things that I think are most important to Alaskans, making sure we have doctors, and nurses, and teachers, and police officers. Every sector of our economy is short on people, even Subway Sandwiches. I met a woman at a tourism conference who represents Subway Sandwiches. They needed 40 J-1 visas because they don’t have enough people to make Subway sandwiches across Alaska. I think that that is really reflective across every single field. I mean I’m sure, here even at KYUK, you need people.

KYUK: Definitely, yeah. So where do you see Alaska’s congressional representative being able to help with those issues then? Talking about outmigration and talking about finding people for these jobs that are needed and necessary in Alaska –

Peltola: I think number one is talking about the problem, looking at it, admitting that this is a concern. When I meet young people your age, I say, “Thank you for staying in Alaska. Please find more young people to move here. Please stay here and raise your family here. We need you.” That’s not really a message that everybody hears very often. So that’s one thing. I think it’s a long game. We had – I hosted an outmigration summit, my official office did, and we partnered with Alaska Federation of Natives, First Alaskans, and Alaska Institute of Social and Economic Research at UAA. They refer to it as ISER. And it was a two-day conference. It was amazingly well-attended, and people stayed for both days. The second day, we had breakout groups where they were broken out by subject. I sat with the education crew. And we certainly need to rework our retirement system in the state, these jobs need to be attractive to young people. They need to be careers. We need to fix GPO/WEP. There’s this discrepancy where a small number of states, if you are part of your state’s pension, you don’t qualify for all of the money that you put into Social Security – or your spouse. It’s a huge penalty just by being part of the state retirement system. And that’s not every state that’s singular to a handful of states, and it just seems illegal. And so that is one of the bills I have, I’m a co-sponsor.

And unfortunately, this has been the most do-nothing Congress since the Civil War. We have passed fewer bills than any Congress in modern history. We have not even been successful getting the Farm Bill, you know, things that we’re obligated to do every three years. And another good example is right now we’re on a continuing resolution til’ December. We’re in limbo, not knowing what our budget situation is going to be. We are in an overtime situation on our last [continuing resolution] and they had a temporary fix. But I think this is reflective of this Congress. I’m very hopeful that the next Congress is much more productive. I hope that there’s enough of a majority where we don’t have a few rock throwers that are just holding up. The Freedom Caucus has really been a stick in the spoke of the wheel. It’s been a terrible burden, and they’re really just wrecking balls. And unfortunately, my opponent has been endorsed by the Freedom Caucus. The people that he idolizes politically are members of the Freedom Caucus. Jim Jordan has never voted for the Farm Bill. I don’t know how you can be in Congress for multiple terms – it just see