"No community is too small or too remote to care about"

That's a quote form Mary Peltola, Alaska's congresswoman, speaking about her predecessor Don Young. Young served as the state's only congressperson for some five decades, until he died this spring on his way home from DC to Alaska.  Peltola says, in this latest ad, that the lesson of showing up in rural places is one she learned from watching Young in the 1980s, when he traveled to Tuntuliak to give a high school graduation speech.  It's a powerful message for rural folks and one she's been rolling out a lot since she won the special election a few months ago.  (See related posts here) 

Name checking Don Young is an interesting strategy given that Peltola is a Democrat and Young was a Republican.  But Peltola, the surprise winner of the special election to replace Young, is now campaigning for a full 2-year term, and she's not shying away from Young's legacy--well, at least some parts of it.  Here's a screenshot from her ad (for which I can't find a link on her web page, sorry): 

 

Here's a link to the 30-second ad on Twitter.  

The place she mentions where Don Young traveled to give a graduation speech, Tuntutuliak, has a population of 408. It's in what she often refers to as western Alaska.  

Yesterday, Peltola was campaigning in the state's 10th largest city, Kodiak, population 5500.