Four candidates are running to represent the Lower Kuskokwim in the Alaska State House, with the state’s primary election scheduled for Aug. 20 and the general election scheduled for Nov. 5.
The first candidate to sign up to challenge incumbent Bethel Democrat Rep. Conrad "CJ" McCormick was Bethel Democrat Victoria Sosa.
District 38 covers lower Kuskokwim communities, including Akiachak, Akiak, Atmautluak, Bethel, Chefornak, Chevak, Eek, Kasigluk, Kipnuk, Kongiganak, Kwethluk, Kwigillingok, Mekoryuk, Napakiak, Napaskiak, Newtok, Nightmute, Nunapitchuk, Oscarville, Quinhagak, Toksook Bay, Tuluksak, Tuntutuliak, and Tununak.
Sosa is running against incumbent Rep. McCormick, Toksook Bay Democrat Nellie Jimmie, and Quinhagak Veterans of Alaska Party candidate Willy Keppel.
Sosa sat down with KYUK’s Sage Smiley to talk about why she wants to represent the Lower Kuskokwim in the State House.
Read a transcript of the interview below. It’s been lightly edited for clarity and flow, and may still contain minor transcription errors.
KYUK (Sage Smiley): Thank you so much for talking with me today about your candidacy, Victoria. Can you tell me a bit about yourself first of all? Who are you, for people who don't know you?
Victoria Sosa: Hello. My name is Victoria Sosa. I am Alaska Native. And I'm from Bethel, but I was born in Anchorage because I was just giving my mom some problems, and they medevaced me. And then they shipped us back. So I grew up in Bethel, I grew up in Anchorage a little bit. Moved back, been here for going on 12, 13 years. I think 12 years.
KYUK: So what makes you want to run to represent District 38 and the Lower Kuskokwim in the Alaska House?
Sosa: Well, I want to see actual change for my district because I think it should be someone who's actually faced and lived hardships within the [Yukon-Kuskokwim] Delta. And that should be the more correct representation for District 38. But not just for 38, but for Alaska. And to ensure that what they put through legislation will not have a bad effect on my district.
KYUK: So do you have any specific legislation, whether that is ideas of legislation you would want to pass or legislation that has frustrated you that you can point to, to give us some examples of what you're talking about?
Sosa: Yeah. So when I was working for Sen. [Donny] Olson and [Sen. Scott] Kawasaki, you know, just being in that environment, hearing proposed legislation to ‘fix the budget’ was one that kind of, well, it bothered me a lot actually. I still think about it. Luckily, it didn't happen, because a lot of people were like, ‘You cannot do that.’ It was one of the other representatives, she wanted to make an Alaska tax and Bethel, we are taxed 6%. I mean, we've been to the store, you see the prices, people are already struggling, you know, there's families who struggle already, like, yeah, we get paid a lot, but rent in the cost of living – that is one of the ones that I can't stop thinking about.
And what I want to do if I'm elected, I would like to push legislation for sexual assault victims to have more protection and more civil rights when it pertains to their cases. There are quite a lot of sexual assault cases that do not get proper justice for the victims and their families and are often not followed through by our state attorneys that are assigned to the cases. There are a lot of injustices that can happen to the victims and have already happened. And there are some with barely any justice done and others none with all. And I want to stop that by putting a bill through, legislation that will help the sexual assault victims. It takes a lot for a victim to talk about what happened to them, and for them, they have to repeat themselves and go through numerous omnibus calls and hearings and at times be victim-blamed even by those who work for the state. We have a long way to go, and I hope this bill that I have drafted will work or even be heard or put through. Alaska has the second-highest sexual assault rate in the country. And that's very bad.
Other legislation I want to do is I want to put legislation on the commercial fishing so that we can get the fish we need for our families out here in the [Yukon-Kuskokwim] Delta. I know it's really hard for the Yukon, they aren’t allowed to fish at all. And for the Kuskokwim we're pretty lucky. But I think we could do more work so that we don't have such a time crunch for fishing in the region. You know, there's people that live off of subsistence, but they also can’t afford to miss work. So that's, I mean, I really liked that it was the weekend. But this fishing season, they were pretty late. And it's another hardship us Indigenous people have to face out here. And I believe those who are doing the commercial fishing and Area M need to have more policies put into place so that our fish can come home to spawn and our people out here in the [Yukon-Kuskokwim] Delta can have more fish. And not just for the Kuskokwim, but for the Yukon as well. We need more accountability when it comes to bycatch.
And we also just, I want to unite all the tribes. I've been trying to get a hold of a lot of them. It's just it's so hard because, you know, I'm not made of money, I work five days a week. So it's hard. I do have people calling for me though, which I'm very grateful for. The other thing I would like to do is I would like to make the Kuskokwim nominated for natural resource water, meaning that it would be put in the policies so that places, like, or corporations like Pebble Mine will be not allowed – making the Kuskokwim River have a policy put into place so that it is a 'natural resource' water; it will be protected from Donlin Gold. I want to do that. Those are the main three legislations. And I also support the big [Permanent Fund Dividend], especially out here. Just living in the [Yukon-Kuskokwim] Delta, it's hard. Like I said, the cost of living is pretty bad. So that's what I would like to put through if I'm elected.
KYUK: So you don't have previous experience serving in the state legislature. But do you have other legislative experience, whether that's through work, or through municipal boards, or city council or those sorts of things? Can you tell us about that?
Sosa: I was the staffer for the legislative session of 2023, for Sen. Olson and Sen. Kawasaki. But that's the only thing. Just working there made me want to be better and do something for my district. Because just seeing how the process is, and if you're put in a position where you could put legislation through and not just sit there, like, I would do that. And I have a lot of ideas.
KYUK: So speaking of those ideas, you already spoke to some of the legislation or motivating issues, but to ask the question in a different way: What are the issues that motivate you to want to represent the Lower Kuskokwim in the Alaska State House?
Sosa: Most definitely, the big issue is the sexual assault rate in our state and the [Yukon-Kuskokwim] Delta most likely. Because our numbers in the [Yukon-Kuskokwim] Delta, there's so many sexual assaults that are happening way too often. And I would like to put some legislation through to protect the victims. That's one of my biggest. The other one is Area M. I want to put legislation through so that we could shut that down for a period of time to commercial fishermen so that we can at least have some of our salmon come home. And it's really saddening, just the fish. It's scary. Smelts weren't too good this year. And the fish wasn't good. You know, it was good for some people. But like I said, they were late. And I hope that is the case. But that's only from what I hear, I don't have a boat.
KYUK: What do you want to change about the way the [Yukon-Kuskokwim] Delta is represented in the Alaska State House, if you're elected?
Sosa: I would like to change the way people in District 38 are represented, because the way that the representatives are engaging with the district, I believe that there's a big disconnect. There's no community engagements like [Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons] walk, Fourth of July, there's no newsletter, no one knows what's going on. There's no monthly newsletter or even a weekly ‘This is what happened in this committee hearing.’ I believe our district should know what exactly is going on in Juneau, and there should also be more community engagement from our representatives. We don't have that right now. And I'd love to change that. I want my people to know what's going on. And I think it would be really vital to hear their opinions whilst in the process of being at community events.
KYUK: How do you plan to campaign?
Sosa: Well, I've been getting a hold of the tribes, and I'm gonna be hanging up signs. I mean, I already volunteer for stuff like community gatherings. And so just me being out there, people know me, they already know I'm running. So I've already had people asking me questions, and when I think about it, so I think – I think I'm good on campaigning, because I'm already out and about at community gatherings. And if people have a question, I'm already there for them to ask. So it's not really hard to get a hold of me. And I also have a Facebook page, I have a website. And I also have stickers to give out. But I'm also – I think I already said it, talking to the tribes. Because I think it's important that we get out that Native vote, because in Alaska, there's a lot of advocacy for the Native vote being higher. And so usually, I'll ask, like, people around my age that are Indigenous be like, ‘Are you registered to vote? You know how important it is to vote? You have to go vote, otherwise, the things you won't change won't be changed.’ And then that's when they're like, ‘Well, who are you to tell me to vote?’ and say, like, ‘I'm Victoria Sosa.’ And I'll tell them where I'm from and my family. And yeah, that's how I've been campaigning.
KYUK: Why should someone vote for you?
Sosa: I want to put legislation through on the issues I know will actually help not only my district, but all around Alaska. I'm not going to just sit there and get paid. I actually want to put laws through and I already have some bills drafted. The most important ones that I've already talked about is the sexual assault rate issue, the fishing issue. And right now we're talking – I'm talking with my campaign person who has been helping me. She's actually my treasurer. And we were actually talking about hunting issues. And what I could do that won't be unconstitutional to do, because people are going to be like, ‘No,’ that's, it's like, it probably won't be seen through because it might be unconstitutional. Because you know, it's not my place to be like, ‘You can't hunt here, you're not from here,’ you know what I mean. But we do have people who come to Bethel who are not from here, and they come and hunt our game. And it's saddening, because we get to see all these trophy hunters bring our meat home. And, you know, we're pretty regulated, there's policy set in place on us. But a lot of the questions are from people who are from here, including me, are: ‘What about them? Where's their policies?’ Yeah, they have licenses and all that. But that's another one of the issues that I'm talking about right now, with my treasurer, we're just trying to see if it's unconstitutional or not. I want to ensure that no bad legislation [passes] that will have a bad effect on my district, like if I'm going to be there, I'll make sure that A, B, and C doesn't happen so that, you know, XYZ, which is bad, and you know, it's a loss in place. I just, I don't want bad things to happen that are set through legislation to happen to my district.
KYUK: Is there anything we haven't talked about that you feel is important for someone to know about you as a candidate or about what you want to do, if you are elected to the legislature, that you to make sure that we mention?
Sosa: I think I mentioned all of my pretty big bullet points. And like I said, if people see me or if you see me, you could ask me. Other than that, I think my biggest ideas are the fishing issue, the sexual assault issue, and the soon to be – well, hunting issues. And yeah, those are my main three. I believe in subsistence rights. And you know, especially if you grew up in the [Yukon-Kuskokwim] Delta, and you're from here, and you have family from here like me, we should have the right to have to live with our subsistence rights. I think there's too much accountability on us, and there should be more on those who aren't [from here], you know, commercial fishermen or people who come here to hunt for trophy hunting. That's what I believe in. I think we should have more leniency on that.
KYUK: Well thank you very much for your time and for sharing your thoughts, and good luck on your campaign.
Sosa: Thank you Sage. You have a good day.
Stay tuned for more KYUK election coverage in the coming weeks. Find other KYUK 2024 elections coverage here.
