Suzanne Downing: The Atlantic magazine discovers Alaska and pimps for Peltola

By SUZANNE DOWNING

June 23, 2026 – As my friend Johnny Rice likes to say, “Nobody in Alaska reads The Atlantic.”

That’s not because Alaskans can’t read. Most of us can. It’s because The Atlantic isn’t written for us. It’s written for them.

The magazine exists to reassure a particular class of East Coast political insiders, academics, activists, and Democratic strategists that they are smarter than everyone else. It is a publication that endorsed Kamala Harris in 2024 and spent years lecturing Americans about what they should believe. Needless to say, Alaska wasn’t buying what they were selling. Trump won by double digits that year.

Now the magazine has turned its attention northward with a glowing profile titled “Democrats’ Great Alaskan Hope,” an exercise in political image-making disguised as journalism.

The subject, of course, is Mary Peltola.

The article portrays Peltola as the Democrat most likely to win a Senate seat in a red state. She’s described as culturally moderate, focused on fish, family, and freedom, and somehow uniquely positioned above the partisan fray.

Sound familiar? Yup. National Democrats have spent years trying to package Mary Peltola as something she is not. They want voters to see an independent-minded Alaskan when what they are actually getting is a reliable vote for the Democratic agenda.

We’ve seen this movie before. The same crowd that brought Alaska ranked-choice voting is back at it again. The same political machine that tolerates the “Decoy Dan” scheme,  placing a second Dan Sullivan on the ballot to confuse voters, now wants Alaskans to believe Mary Peltola is the answer to all our problems.

No shame. No limits. No concern about voter manipulation. Just another campaign to win.

The Atlantic article gushes that Peltola is largely unknown outside Alaska and suggests that’s somehow an electoral advantage. What it doesn’t explain is why Alaskans should forget her actual record.

Peltola served in Congress during the Biden administration and accomplished remarkably little for Alaska. Basically, she accomplished nothing and often was simply a no-show.

She became famous for one statement more than any legislative achievement: declaring that Joe Biden was the smartest person she had met in Washington, D.C.

Think about that: This was while Americans watched Biden struggle through speeches, forget names, wander off stages, and eventually withdraw from his reelection campaign amid widespread recognition that he has lost his marbles.

Yet Peltola wanted Alaskans to believe he was the sharpest mind in Washington.

That tells us far more about her judgment than any carefully crafted magazine profile ever could.

The article also celebrates her support among commercial fishing interests and environmental groups. What it doesn’t mention is that Peltola’s biggest cheerleaders are national Democrats who have spent years trying to restrict resource development in Alaska.

She has already received support from some of the most progressive figures in the Democratic Party. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez quickly lined up behind her. Former Vice President Kamala Harris sent fundraising appeals on her behalf. Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts, one of the Senate’s most reliable voices for the climate activist movement and a hater of Alaskan workers, has endorsed her as well.

These are not endorsements from people who wake up worrying about Alaska’s economy, but from those who view Alaska as a political trophy.

The national Democrats want this Senate seat desperately. They know Sen. Dan Sullivan is a dependable conservative vote. He’s Solid Sullivan. They know Alaska remains one of the few states willing to resist the progressive agenda. And they know that if they can wrap a Democrat in enough Alaska-themed branding, some voters might forget who is really backing the campaign.

That’s why outside publications are suddenly interested in us.

They don’t care about Alaska, but they care deeply, religiously,  about control of the United States Senate. That way, they can impeach Donald Trump.

What’s particularly revealing is how quiet Sen. Lisa Murkowski has been. Murkowski famously endorsed Peltola for Congress in the past, helping legitimize her among some independent and Republican-leaning voters. Yet this year Murkowski has shown little enthusiasm for supporting her Republican Senate colleague, Dan Sullivan. Alaskans can draw their own conclusions.

Meanwhile, compare Peltola’s record to that of the man who defeated her: Congressman Nick Begich arrived in Washington and immediately got to work. He has been one of the most active freshman members of Congress in the country, advancing legislation and building influence at a pace few newcomers have matched.

Peltola had her chance and was a no-show in Congress.

Begich is delivering results.

The Atlantic wants readers to believe Mary Peltola is a uniquely Alaskan political phenomenon. The truth is she is the latest vehicle for a national Democratic effort to capture a Senate seat in a state that consistently rejects the Democrat agenda.

The same political class that gave us ranked-choice voting and the same schemers who placed a second Dan Sullivan on the Senate ballot. The same political class that thought Kamala Harris would carry the day is telling us Mary Peltola is Alaska’s future.

Alaskans heard that pitch before.

They weren’t fooled then. They won’t be fooled again.

Suzanne Downing is founder and editor of The Alaska Story and is a longtime Alaskan.

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