Dear Alaskan,

One of my top priorities as a U.S. Senator is ending domestic violence and sexual assault in Alaska.

I brag about Alaska all the time, but this is one area where there is nothing to boast about. Alaska has some of the highest rates of domestic violence and sexual assault in America, and those rates fall disproportionately on Alaska Native women. In 2020, Alaska Native women were killed by men at more than 3.5 times the rate of women statewide. These numbers are heartbreaking, unacceptable, and demand action.

This issue has been a priority of mine since my time as Alaska’s attorney general, when I led the governor’s rural sub-cabinet and traveled across our state listening to communities about their public safety challenges. Again and again, Alaskans told me about the devastating toll of domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse, and the lack of public safety resources in too many communities.

Those conversations helped lead Governor Sean Parnell and me to launch Choose Respect—a statewide initiative to change our culture, bring domestic violence and sexual assault out of the shadows, and make clear that violence against women and children has no place in Alaska.

Choose Respect was about more than one program or one rally. We held events in villages and cities across the state. We worked with schools, law enforcement, faith leaders, Alaska Native leaders, advocates, and community organizations. We pushed for stronger laws. Most importantly, we encouraged Alaskans to speak openly about an issue that had too often been met with silence.

When I came to the Senate, I carried the work of Choose Respect with me. I authored the Choose Respect Act, which was signed into law in 2022, to continue building awareness around healthy relationships, safety, and respect in our homes, schools, and communities. Last year, the Senate unanimously passed my resolution recognizing October 1 as National Choose Respect Day—a national reminder that all of us have a role to play in ending domestic violence and sexual assault.

One of the first bills I introduced in the Senate was also rooted in the work we started in Alaska: the POWER Act, modeled after the pro bono legal summits I hosted throughout our state. Its goal is straightforward but powerful: to help create an army of lawyers providing free legal services to survivors of domestic violence, stalking, and sexual assault, including in Indigenous communities.

And it matters. Legal help can be the difference between a survivor remaining trapped in a dangerous situation and being able to protect herself and her children. In one study, 83 percent of victims and survivors with an attorney were able to obtain a protective order—compared to less than 30 percent without one.

Since its passage, the POWER Act has helped reach more than 80,000 lawyers and legal professionals across America to encourage free legal assistance and help break the cycle of violence. In districts that include tribal communities, the law also encourages partnerships with Indian Tribes and Tribal Organizations so Native women have greater access to legal support and resources.

Public safety in our villages is another essential part of the solution. Too many rural communities still lack the law enforcement presence and resources they need. In 2019, I urged Attorney General William Barr to come to Alaska and see the rural public safety crisis firsthand. His visit led to an unprecedented investment from the Department of Justice in rural Alaska public safety—more than $62 million in grants supporting prosecutors and funding 39 law enforcement positions to help strengthen village law enforcement and victim services.

Village Public Safety Officers are often the first line of response in some of the most remote parts of our state. I commend Governor Dunleavy and the Alaska Legislature for making meaningful progress in rebuilding the VPSO program, with the number of VPSOs more than doubling from 42 in early 2020 to 87 by early 2025. That progress is crucial, but we need to keep going—strengthening recruitment and retention, improving training and support, and ensuring that village law enforcement has the resources they need. 

We must also continue confronting the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons crisis, which is inseparable from the broader cycle of violence affecting too many families in Alaska. On May 5—the National Day of Awareness for MMIP—I hosted a roundtable at Cook Inlet Tribal Council with Alaska Native leaders, law enforcement, victim advocates, federal partners, and community organizations to discuss strengthening investigations, improving coordination, supporting victims’ families, and delivering justice to communities that have waited far too long for answers. 

At the roundtable, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Billy Kirkland announced a new Department of the Interior effort to build on and reinvigorate Operation Lady Justice—the initiative launched during the first Trump administration under the leadership of Alaska’s own Tara Sweeney—which helped bring long-overdue federal focus to this crisis, elevate the voices of tribal leaders, families, and survivors, and improve coordination and accountability in MMIP cases.

These efforts are all connected. Through Choose Respect, the Choose Respect Act, the POWER Act, and continued efforts to strengthen public safety and address the MMIP crisis, I will keep working to ensure survivors of abuse and the families of those unjustly taken receive the legal support, protection, and justice they deserve.

Sincerely,

Dan Sullivan
United States Senator