Going into the 2026 midterm election cycle, the conventional wisdom was that Democrats had no serious shot at gaining back control of the U.S. Senate. The party would need to flip four seats to restore the majority it lost in 2022. And the 2026 map is forbidding: With only one Republican-held seat up for grabs in a blue state and two Democratic-held seats up in states Donald Trump won, the odds of the chamber switching hands have looked pretty long. But around the country, Democrats have caught a few breaks in candidate recruitment, and the latest bit of good luck for the party comes from the unlikely frozen turf of the Far North. The most popular Democratic politician in Alaska, former congresswoman Mary Peltola, has announced she will challenge two-term Republican incumbent Mark Sullivan. Peltola, like most Alaska candidates, is campaigning as an outsider who understands that state’s many peculiar needs and interests and its vulnerability to federal policies, political columnist Ed Kilgore writes. She may benefit from a combination of Democratic momentum this year and Alaska’s traditional hostility to Washington. Read more from Kilgore: