Chugiak's Diane Benson talks about her second campaign for the U.S. Congress during a recent interview with The Star. Star Photo By DARRELL L. BREESE

During the last Congressional election in 2006, Benson received more than 40 percent of the vote against Young.

“I ran when nobody else would back in 2006,” she said. “I felt that it was the right thing to do then, and I still feel the same today.

However, she can have a go at Alaska's elder statesman, she must win the Democratic primary over challenges from Jake Metcalfe and Ethan Berkowitz.

“I welcome the challenge in the primary,” she said. “I've never been one to back away from a challenge, because I think a good challenge makes me be at my best.”

The woman born to Norwegian and Tlingit parents in Southeast Alaska has overcome challenges all her life, living in foster homes, boarding schools and at logging camps while growing up.

During her high school years, several of her Mt. Edgecumbe boarding school classmates and friends died in a 1971 Alaska Airlines crash in Juneau. Devastated by the loss, she transferred to a school in Fairbanks and immersed herself in activities. Eventually, she became the senior class representative, her first venture into an elected position.

After graduating, while chasing her dream of attending college at Stanford University, Benson was derailed and found herself homeless in Portland, Ore. Beating the odds, she found work and saved enough money to return to Alaska.

In 1975, she went to work on the trans-Alaska oil pipeline as one of the first female truck drivers.

“I had to be a tough woman to work on the pipeline in those days,” she said. “I had to work harder than anyone else just to earn respect.”

She followed that with a stint on a Bristol Bay gill-netter, and then she drove a concrete mixer truck while attending college at the University of Alaska Anchorage, eventually graduating in 1985 with a degree in theatre and justice.

“I guess I've been a pioneer all my life,” she said of often being the lone woman on many job sites. “I'm not one to back away from a challenge.”

Benson made her first run for elected office one week after completing her master's degree, as a Green Party candidate for lieutenant governor on the ticket with Desa Jacobson. The ticket marked the first time two Native women were on the same ballot for governor and lieutenant governor in Alaska.

Following a period when she worked to promote Alaska and Alaska Natives in the entertainment industry, she turned to politics after her son was injured by a roadside bomb while deployed with the Army in Iraq.

Running a campaign against Young in 2006, where she was outspent by a 10 to 1 margin, she still turned in one of the strongest showings of anyone to challenge the 35-year Alaska Congressman in state history.

“I'm not finished yet,” she said. “We came close during the last election, and I want to finish the job this year.”

Benson's determination became more evident as she told of catching a large halibut in the waters of Southeast Alaska.

“I love to fish, and I hooked into a big one,” she said. “My arms were killing me, but when I finally reeled it in enough to see it, I knew it was a monster.”

After debating whether or not to pull it into the boat or release the giant halibut, Benson convinced her fellow fisherman to help her hoist the 200-pound fish on board.

“The fish was huge, maybe six feet across,” she said. “I wasn't about to let it go.”

It is that determination that has Benson back in the race for Congress.

“I had a strong showing in the last election, but I'm not satisfied with that,” she said. “I'm not finished yet. Hopefully I can get the job done this year.”

As a Native Alaskan, she believes the state's resources should be used responsibily to best benefit Alaskans.

“Like any state, we have needs for economic development so people can have paychecks,” Benson said.

While she acknowledges some concern about opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Benson says it can and should be done in an environmentally sound way.

“We have to work out a balance between development and conservation as Alaskans,” Benson said. “But our resources are our resources. I think the bottom line is whether people have jobs.”

Reach the reporter at darrell.breese@alaskastar.com.

This article published in The Alaska Star on Thursday, February 21, 2008.