Mallott's political career began in 1965 when his father, who served as Yakutat's mayor for the vast majority of the position's existence, died. He left college and returned to Yakutat, running to replace him, and won the election. After Egan was defeated for re-election by
Walter Hickel in
1966, Mallott returned to Yakutat and served on the city council. In 1968, Mallott received the Democratic nomination for the 5th district in the
Alaska House of Representatives. In the general election he was narrowly defeated by Henry E. Reeves by twenty-three votes. Mallott posted the $250 for a recount, but the vote total remained the same. In 1969, Senator
Mike Gravel appointed him to serve as a special assistant. Mallott became chairman of Alaska's Reapportionment Board. On September 5, 1980, he resigned from the board for personal reasons. In 1982, Mallott was appointed to the board of trustees of the
Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation by Governor
Jay Hammond to replace Elmer Rasmuson. In 1985, he was selected to serve as the chairman of the permanent fund; he later served as its executive director from 1995 to 2000. On August 16, 1994, Mallott announced that he would run in Juneau's mayoral election. He was elected mayor of Juneau in that municipality's 1994 general election. He resigned from office after he was selected to serve as the executive director of the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation. Mallott faced harsh criticism when he initially announced that he could handle serving in both positions, leading to changing his mind and resigning the mayoral position. Mallott was succeeded as mayor by deputy mayor
Dennis Egan.
Lieutenant Governor of Alaska 2014 election Mallott announced on September 2, 2013 that he was running for the Democratic nomination for governor of Alaska in the 2014 election. He won the Democratic gubernatorial primary with 80% of the vote on August 19, 2014. They won the election on November 4, 2014, as there was a recount due to a close election result.
2018 election In 2017, Walker and Mallott registered to run for re-election on an
independent ticket. Despite running for reelection as an independent, Mallott maintained his Democratic Party registration.
Tenure Mallott signed state marijuana regulations into effect in January 2016. In 2016, Raven Radio reported that Mallott had logged 280,000 Alaska Air Miles in the first two years of his tenure as lieutenant governor. Mallott resigned his post as lieutenant governor on October 16, 2018, citing "inappropriate comments" that he had made to a woman whom Governor Walker refused to name. He was succeeded as lieutenant governor by
Valerie Davidson, the former commissioner of the
Alaska Department of Health and Social Services. ==Business career==