While U.S. senatorial candidate Mary Peltola regularly boasts of her fishing exploits and repeatedly recounts working in the family fish camp, she has also accepted donations from a lobbyist who seeks to end fishing in all its forms.
Campaign finance data shows that Peltola, who is challenging U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan, has been receiving donations from a Lower-48 lobbyist who works for the radical animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). Peltola has accepted two separate contributions from Keith Pemrick, a prominent PETA lobbyist from Pennsylvania, in both her primary and general elections in 2024. Pemrick’s contributions to the Peltola campaign totaled $800.
The donations were recently highlighted by the National Republican Senate Committee (NRSC), which pointed out that PETA is one of the most radical “animal liberation” groups in the nation.
The NRSC noted that Peltola’s leftist allies actually “desire the destruction of Alaskan culture,” which she claims to embrace.
“They have called catch-and-release sport fishing ‘torture’ and claim that eating fish is hazardous to your health, while advocating their supporters to ‘combat fishing in your area,’” the NRSC noted earlier this week.
Peltola, however, labels herself as a ‘fisherman’ and has made fishing the centerpiece of her senatorial campaign.” Her campaign website states: “I grew up on the Kuskokwim, fishing salmon with my father. Buzzy and I raised our seven kids here and spent long summer days at fish camp. Fishing with family is where Alaskans learn life’s lessons.”
These types of activities, which Peltola celebrates as part of her Alaska Native tradition, are categorically condemned by PETA, which argues that animals are “non-human persons” that should never be owned or eaten.
Recently, the group staged a protest at the start of the Iditarod, claiming the beloved dog sled race is an unethical disgrace.
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“The Iditarod promotes itself as a ‘tribute to the Native Alaskans’ that is ‘deeply steeped in tradition and culture,’ and yet, Peltola’s PETA allies protested the event by wielding ‘signs in the shape of tombstones and stuffed dogs meant to look dead’ during the 2025 Iditarod,” the NRSC pointed out.
Nevertheless, Peltola has leaned into the Alaska mushing culture despite taking funds from those who would seek to end it. She has posted numerous photos and videos featuring her running a sled dog team on her social media accounts.
The NRSC noted that Peltola’s leftist allies actually “desire the destruction of Alaskan culture,” which she claims to embrace.
