Mary Peltola

Mary Sattler Peltola is an American politician and former tribal judge serving as the U.S. representative from Alaska's at-large congressional district since September 2022. She previously served as a judge on the Orutsararmiut Native Council's tribal court, executive director of the Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, Bethel city councillor and member of the Alaska House of Representatives. A member of the Democratic Party, Peltola defeated former Governor Sarah Palin and Alaska Policy Forum board member Nick Begich in an upset in the August 2022 special election to succeed Don Young, who died in March that year. In doing so, she became the first Alaska Native member of Congress and the only Russian Orthodox, as well as the first woman ever to represent Alaska in the House, the first person to have been born in Alaska to serve in the House, and first Democrat since Nick Begich Sr. in 1972. She was reelected to a full term in the regularly scheduled election in November 2022.

Women in the United States House of Representatives - Women have served in the United States House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber, since 1917 following the 1916 election of Republican Jeannette Rankin from Montana, the first woman in Congress.
Native American judges
Native American members of the United States Congress
Members of the Orthodox Church in America
Russian Orthodox Christians from the United States
Yupik people
Native American Christians
Alaska city council members
Women state legislators in Alaska
Native American women in politics
Female members of the United States House of Representatives
American lobbyists