Congresswoman Mary Peltola whistlestops in Nome

Last week, Nomeites young and old packed into the front room of Milano’s Pizzeria to have an opportunity to meet, talk and listen to the first Alaska Native woman elected to Congress, Mary Peltola.

She faces re-election this fall in what is billed as one of the tighter congressional races in America, however, so far, she has vastly out fund-raised her competition.

Peltola’s organizers were getting people to sign sheets to pledge time, or at least give an e-mail address so they could ask again later. Most locals ordered food and joked with each other as the room swelled and anticipation for the congresswoman built. People passed around plate after plate of large crab. Her flyer was headlined with a sleddog in harness, maw open, with writing beside it: “Protect THE BUSH. Our Way of Life Is on the Line.”

Peltola eventually made an entrance wearing a blue kuspuk and took charge of the room, but gently, like a professor, or a doctor, or a concerned mother, or all three. She started off explaining the difficulty of national politics during this fraught era.

“Almost any decision you make is going to enrage about 50 percent of the people on any given decision. So it’s not an easy job, but it’s rewarding…I really try to bring a level-headed style, because I think the nation really needs that.”

Then she pivoted to Alaska, spouting facts: We have the largest percentage of federal workers, and the highest percentage of veterans. She claimed that most of the state’s issues are not partisan issues. More percentages: 63 percent of Alaskans are politically independent. She praised the benefits of Ranked Choice Voting, which might possibly be repealed this fall. Then she opened the floor to comments or questions.

First housing. Then fishing. “My heart goes out to the Yukon people,” she said, reminding everyone that the people on that river haven’t fished for three years and now, due to a new international deal with Canada, won’t fish for another seven years. She hit on her anti-trawling efforts, the need to delineate between pelagic vs. bottom. She touted her helping ban foreign trawlers in what she claimed reduced chum bycatch by 50 percent.

She turned a few heads when talking about Alaskan’s federal representatives – Murkowski, Sullivan, and herself – when she claimed they were all bipartisan. But she kept moving right along, praising how much pork they’ve brought home for our area specifically.

Someone shouted $408,560,000!

“I mean, if we’re rounding up, it’s $409 million,” Peltola quipped.

Peltola took the opportunity, when Kawerak was brought up, to laud the president Melanie Bahnke.

A local brought up teacher turnover and childcare at the same time. Peltola framed the two issues together as “workforce development issues.” As she explained why, Shannon Mason, Peltola's Director of Communications, was giddy with conviction as Peltola hit all the salient points, and Mason punctuated in rhythm with her boss, like a boxing coach in the corner throwing faux-jabs. Peltola also dispelled the issues as national: “It’s everywhere.”

She said she supported the child tax credit.

She slid in a line that her son “struggled [in school] because he couldn’t understand the new Filipino teacher.”

Then her talk started getting a little too wonky, and she sensed it, and she pivoted to drive home some larger campaign themes, claiming she wasn’t even trying to do anything aspirational, that she just wanted to keep the government on the rails. She proved adept at reading the crowd. A woman cut herself on a crab and started gushing blood, but she wasn’t bothered by it. Neither was anyone else.

“I’m from the Bush. I just want to get stuff done,” Peltola said.

Another constituent brought up the hate crimes committed against Natives at a Fred Meyers in Fairbanks recently. Somehow Peltola managed to seamlessly make the discussion about the importance of Indigenous Knowledge, bringing up an example of how certain butterflies can be an indicator of Chinooks in the river.

Out-migration was bought up. Then energy. A couple locals disagreed about the potential of mini-nuclear reactors.

She was proud of the Willow Project and securing the jobs that came with it.

She name dropped Secretary of Transportation, Pete Buttigieg.

Then touted green energy, but with a but: “So we desperately need to transition, but we also have to be realistic about timeline.”

She fielded a question about Native IDs and, apparently, she has a bill to improve them and expand their usage.

Then, one of her organizers took over and reminded everyone of “the power of just one individual and the difference you can make.” He proselytized in this vein for several minutes.

Peltola let local Alaska State Legislature Representative, Neal Foster, field a question about bringing back a retirement package for state employees. He claimed they were “so close” this year and had high hopes for doing it next year.

The meeting wound down. Pictures were taken. Peltola encouraged people to take food home. And then she stood there and met with every single person that wanted to, replying to questions and making small talk.