PELTOLA BEATS PALIN
By BECKY BOHRER
September 1, 2022
JUNEAU,
Alaska (AP) — Democrat Mary Peltola won the special election for
Alaska’s only U.S. House seat on Wednesday, besting a field that
included Republican Sarah Palin, who was seeking a political comeback in the state where she was once governor.
Peltola,
who is Yup’ik and turned 49 on Wednesday, will become the first Alaska
Native to serve in the House and the first woman to hold the seat. She
will serve the remaining months of the late Republican U.S. Rep. Don
Young’s term. Young held the seat for 49 years before his death in
March.
“I don’t think there will be another birthday like today,” Peltola said.
“Really
I’m just so grateful to Alaskans and all the Alaskans who put their
faith in me to fill out the remainder of Congressman Young’s term,” she
said in an interview. “My desire is to follow in Congressman Young’s
legacy of representing all Alaskans, and I’m just looking forward to
getting to work.”
Peltola’s victory, in
Alaska’s first statewide ranked choice voting election, is a boon for
Democrats, particularly coming off better-than-expected performances in
special elections around the country this year following the Supreme
Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade. She will be the first Democrat to
hold the seat since the late U.S. Rep. Nick Begich, who was seeking
reelection in 1972 when his plane disappeared. Begich was later declared
dead and Young in 1973 was elected to the seat.
Peltola
ran as a coalition builder while her two Republican opponents — Palin
and Begich’s grandson, also named Nick Begich — at times went after each
other. Palin also railed against the ranked voting system, which was
instituted by Alaska voters.
All three - Peltola, Palin
and Begich - are candidates in the November general election, seeking a
two-year term that would start in January.
The results
came 15 days after the Aug. 16 election, in line with the deadline for
state elections officials to receive absentee ballots mailed from
outside the U.S. Ranked choice tabulations took place Wednesday after no
candidate won more than 50% of the first choice votes, with state
elections officials livestreaming the event. Peltola was in the lead
heading into the tabulations, followed by Palin and then Begich.
State elections officials plan to certify the election by Friday.
Alaska Democratic Party leaders cheered Peltola’s win.
“Alaskans
have made clear they want a rational, steadfast, honest and caring
voice speaking for them in Washington D.C., not opportunists and
extremists associated with the Alaska Republican Party,” state
Democratic party chair Michael Wenstrup said in a statement.
Wednesday’s
results were a disappointment for Palin, who was looking to make a
political comeback 14 years after she was vaulted onto the national
stage when John McCain selected her to be his running mate in the 2008
presidential election. In her run for the House seat, she had widespread
name recognition and won the endorsement of former President Donald
Trump.
After Peltola’s victory was announced, Palin called the ranked voting system “crazy, convoluted, confusing.”
“Though we’re disappointed in this outcome, Alaskans know I’m the last one who’ll ever retreat,” Palin said in a statement.
Begich in a statement congratulated Peltola while looking forward to the November election.
During
the campaign, critics questioned Palin’s commitment to Alaska, citing
her decision to resign as governor in July 2009, partway through her
term. Palin went on to become a conservative commentator on TV and
appeared in reality television programs, among other pursuits.
Palin
has insisted her commitment to Alaska never wavered and said ahead of
the special election that she had “signed up for the long haul.”
Peltola,
a former state lawmaker who most recently worked for a commission whose
goal is to rebuild salmon resources on the Kuskokwim River, cast
herself as a “regular” Alaskan. “I’m not a millionaire. I’m not an
international celebrity,” she said.
Peltola has said she was hopeful that the new system would allow more moderate candidates to be elected.
During
the campaign, she emphasized her support of abortion rights and said
she wanted to elevate issues of ocean productivity and food security.
Peltola said she got a boost after the June special primary when she won
endorsements from Democrats and independents who had been in the race.
She said she believed her positive messaging also resonated with voters.
“It’s
been very attractive to a lot of people to have a message of working
together and positivity and holding each other up and unity and as
Americans none of us are each other’s enemy,” she said. “That is just a
message that people really need to hear right now.”
Alaska
voters in 2020 approved an elections process that replaced party
primaries with open primaries. Under the new system, ranked voting is
used in general elections.
Under ranked voting,
ballots are counted in rounds. A candidate can win outright with more
than 50% of the vote in the first round. If no one hits that threshold,
the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated. Voters who chose that
candidate as their top pick have their votes count for their next
choice. Rounds continue until two candidates remain, and whoever has the
most votes wins.
In Alaska, voters last
backed a Democrat for president in 1964. The number of registered voters
who are unaffiliated with a party is greater than the number of
registered Republicans or Democrats combined, according to statistics
from the Division of Elections.
The last
Democratic member of Alaska’s congressional delegation was Mark Begich,
Nick Begich’s uncle, who served one term in the U.S. Senate and lost his
2014 reelection bid.
Alaska’s U.S. senators, Republicans Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, congratulated Peltola.
Murkowski
said Peltola “has a long track record of public service to our great
state.” Murkowski and Peltola were in the state Legislature together.
