Mary Peltola

Birth Name: Mary Sattler

Place of Birth: Anchorage, Alaska, U.S.

Date of Birth: August 31, 1973

Ethnicity:
*father – German
*mother – Yup’ik

Mary Peltola is an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party, she has been a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Alaska, since September 13, 2022, and a Co-Chair of the Blue Dog Coalition, since May 24, 2023. She sits on the Orutsararmiut Native Council, and has been a judge on the council’s tribal court; as well as an executive director of the Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, a Bethel city councillor, and a member of the Alaska state house. Her Yup’ik name is Akalleq, “the one who rolled.”

Mary is the first Alaska congressperson to have been born there, in Anchorage. She is the daughter of Elizabeth “LizAnn” Piicigaq Williams and Ward Sattler, who is a pilot and teacher. Her father is from Nebraska, and has German ancestry. Her mother is Yup’ik, from Kwethluk. Mary was raised in Kwethluk, Tuntutuliak, Platinum, and Bethel. She worked as a herring and salmon technician for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, while in college. Mary won the Miss National Congress of American Indians pageant in 1995.

She was married to public servant and naturalist Buzzy Peltola, until his death. Buzzy was Regional Director for Alaska for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, from July 9, 2018 to July 29, 2022. Buzzy was Yup’ik and Tlingit, and was also a tribal member of the Orutsararmiut Native Council. He also had Finnish ancestry, and his surname Peltola originated from Sievi, Finland. Mary has four children. She was previously married to Jonathan Kapsner and Joe Nelson.

Mary is of the Eastern Orthodox religion.