By SUZANNE DOWNING
Oct. 30, 2026 – I just finished a difficult conversation with members of the Peltola family and Peltola family friends. Their message was plain: They want their name back.
They believe Mary Peltola has damaged a family name that belongs to far more people than the politician whose campaign signs carry it.
Mary married into the Peltola family. She was a Sattler, then a Kapsner, then a Nelson. Both husbands filed for divorce. Then she was a Peltola. Evidently when she married Buzzy Peltola, there were Peltola family members quite unhappy with the arrangement; they knew of her behavior.
These relatives asked me to protect their identities. I agreed. Their identities are known to me, and they speak for themselves. I am not suggesting that every member of the extended Peltola family shares their views.
But the people I spoke with are angry and disgusted with Mary Peltola, and tired of seeing their family name attached to conduct they cannot defend. They’ve watched it go on too long and they’ve had enough.
There is a particular burden that comes with sharing a name with someone in public life. I get that. The candidate gets a campaign staff, consultants, advertising money, and people paid to explain away a bad headline. The relatives get questions and side glances at the grocery store.
They also have memories of the person whose name became a political brand for Mary.
For these family members, that person is Eugene “Buzzy” Peltola Jr., Mary’s late husband. Their account told to me of the family’s private life raises serious questions about her extra-marital conduct. It was well known in the region that Buzzy was done with her. He was ready to split the sheets in the fall of 2023, but then his plane went down, and he died with it. But he had already moved his house in South Anchorage to his daughter’s name in his will. He didn’t want Mary to get the house. It’s all in court now; Mary is contesting the will.
Mary’s personal life conduct follows a pattern already reported in her public life.
The New York Times reported former aides’ accounts of angry outbursts, derogatory language, and incidents involving a shove and a water bottle used as a weapon. The campaign disputes all of it. The campaign deniedthe reported use of a homophobic slur and offered different explanations for the physical encounters. The campaign acknowledged her use of a derogatory term for people with intellectual disabilities (retards) and said she regretted it.
She also said that she hoped an Alaskan died of a “botched abortion.” That’s in writing and she can’t take it back.
All of this points back to Mary’s character, or lack thereof. Her time in the Alaska House and her notorious behavior then. The staff that quit in record numbers due to her abusiveness. There’s a pattern here, but so much more than just employees, according to family members.
The Peltolas want their name back. I cannot give them that. But I can make their position clear: These members of the Peltola family do not want their silence mistaken for approval of Mary.
Mary Peltola speaks for her campaign. My sources tell me in no uncertain terms that she does not speak for the Peltolas.
Suzanne Downing is founder and editor of The Alaska Story and is a longtime Alaskan.
4 thoughts on “Suzanne Downing: A conversation with Peltola family members — ‘We want our name back’”
Of course Mary is contesting the will. Just like she sued the airplane manufacturer for the crash. She is a money grubbing grifter with the morals of a cat. That might be mean to the cat.
Watching and listening to the campaign ads supporting her, I feel for the mouth pieces. They must feel so used and duped.
Never was a fan, but the more that comes out, the more she seems like a real sweetheart. /sarc
Can Peltola’s trick influence the election? No. Because Alaska has ranked-choice voting so even if a Dan Sullivan voter picked the wrong Dan Sullivan first, she would presumably pick the other Dan Sullivan second.
Is Peltola’s trick nice? No. You may have noticed during the course of this campaign that Mary Peltola has been exposed as a not-very-cuddly politician. She is surly. She has sharp elbows. She plays for keeps.
So if someone wanted to make the argument that Alaskans should vote against Peltola on character grounds, because she isn’t very nice, that would be fine. By all means, the Party of Trump and Epstein should absolutely play the character card.
But don’t tell me—not for one second—that Peltola has done something beyond the pale.
This is what hardball looks like.
Republicans were perfectly fine with hardball when Ron DeSantis was steamrolling the legislature into adopting his newly gerrymandered congressional map. We live in a world where legality is the standard. Mary Peltola’s dirty trick was legal. End of story.
So quit your whining, Republican snowflakes.