Alaska special election

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, ...

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. But the state also has a history of rewarding candidates with an independent streak. In her run for the House seat, she had widespread name recognition and won the endorsement of former President Donald Trump. 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. If no one hits that threshold, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated. “And my hope is that we shy away from the really extreme-type candidates and politicians.” Begich was later declared dead and Young in 1973 was elected to the seat. Palin went on to become a conservative commentator on TV and appeared in reality television programs, among other pursuits. She will be the first Democrat to hold the seat since the late U.S. Ranked choice tabulations took place Wednesday after no candidate won more than 50 percent of the first choice votes. She will serve the remaining months of the late Republican U.S. JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Democrat Mary Peltola won the special election for Alaska’s only U.S.

Ms. Peltola notched a major upset against Ms. Palin and will finish the remaining four months of the term of Representative Don Young, who died in March.

Ms. And Ms. Peltola finished ahead of Ms. Trump visited Anchorage in July to hold a rally for Ms. Trump expended most of his energy at the rally attacking Senator Lisa Murkowski, who broke with him frequently on abortion and other issues and who voted for his impeachment after the assault on the U.S. More than 60 percent of Alaskans favor abortion rights, breaking with the position held by Republicans like Ms. Wade was another major theme of Ms. She has also served as a councilwoman in Bethel, a small city in western Alaska, and as a judge on the Orutsararmuit Native Council Tribal Court. Peltola notched a major upset against Ms. A strong Democratic showing in a New York special election is [one of the latest examples](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/24/us/politics/ny-special-election-abortion.html?action=click&pgtype=Article&state=default&module=styln-2022-midterms&variant=show®ion=MAIN_CONTENT_1&block=storyline_top_links_recirc). [beat Sarah Palin in a special House election](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/31/us/politics/mary-peltola-alaska-special-election.html?action=click&pgtype=Article&state=default&module=styln-2022-midterms&variant=show®ion=MAIN_CONTENT_1&block=storyline_top_links_recirc), adding to a series of recent wins for the party. As a Yup’ik woman, she said, she has sought to use the teachings of her community in her broader appeals for bipartisanship.

Democrat Mary Peltola has defeated Republican Sarah Palin in the special election for Alaska's vacant House seat, a big upset over the former governor in ...

Palin had contributed to Fox News as a political commentator in the mid-2010s and bought a home in Arizona in 2011, before selling it several years ago. And Palin wasn’t the only famous name: Begich is a member of a storied political family in the state. Mark Begich and state Senate Minority Leader Tom Begich, and he is the grandson of former Democratic Rep. The Republican is a nephew of former Democratic Sen. Peltola’s victory is the latest in a string of overperformances for Democrats in special congressional elections since the Supreme Court’s ruling overturning Roe v. Peltola, a former state legislator who will become Alaska’s first indigenous member of Congress, defeated a special election field that included Palin and another Republican, Nick Begich III.

Peltola scored a rare Democratic win in the state while also becoming the first Alaska Native elected to Congress.

[a third of the seats in the 100-member Senate](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/03/09/senate-seats-up-2022/?itid=lb_understanding-the-2022-midterm-elections_6) are up for election. Here’s a [complete guide to the midterms](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/interactive/2022/2022-midterm-elections-guide/?itid=lb_understanding-the-2022-midterm-elections_5). As of April 25, [46 of the 50 states had settled on the boundaries](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/interactive/redistricting-tracker-map/?itid=lb_understanding-the-2022-midterm-elections_9) for 395 of 435 U.S. [What is redistricting?](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/12/22/what-is-redistricting/?itid=lb_understanding-the-2022-midterm-elections_8) Redistricting is the process of drawing congressional and state legislative maps to ensure everyone’s vote counts equally. Peltola, who turned 49 on Wednesday, is the daughter of a Yup’ik mother and a father from Nebraska, who started in Alaska as a teacher in the village of Fort Yukon. Peltola was in the Alaska state House for 10 years, ending in 2008, and served while Palin was governor. A previous version of this story inaccurately said the winner of the Alaska special election would serve until November. “It’s a new system, and people campaigned like it was the old system.” The Alaska race adds another data point to the clues both parties are examining as they gear up for the stretch run to the Nov. Those outcomes, all following the Supreme Court decision to end a constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy, have been hailed by Democrats as encouraging signs for the November midterms that show voters are angered by the court’s decision and eager to vote for candidates supporting abortion rights. Peltola, who’s Yup’ik, is a tribal fisheries manager and former state representative who led in initial counts after the Aug. ANCHORAGE — Democrat Mary Peltola has won a special election for the U.S.

Democrat Mary Peltola will be the first Alaska Native in Congress after she won a special election that included former Gov. Sarah Palin, NBC News projects.

As Alaska — and America — now sees, the exact opposite is true," she said in a statement. She will compete against Peltola and Begich again in November to determine who will serve a full two-year term in the House. Palin simply doesn’t have enough support from Alaskans to win an election," Begich said in a statement. [finished fourth](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/sarah-palin-advances-special-alaska-house-race-primary-rcna33151) in a crowded nonpartisan primary in June, when 48 candidates battled to secure one of the four spots on the Aug. “Ranked-choice voting was sold as the way to make elections better reflect the will of the people. No candidate won more than 50% of the vote in the Aug. But heading into Wednesday’s final tabulation, Peltola was [leading the pack](https://nebula.nbcnewstools.net/nbcnews/content/edit/democrat-mary-peltola-defeats-sarah-palin-special-election-become-firs/45756). The rounds continue until one of two remaining candidates with the most votes wins. "As we look forward to the November election, I will work hard to earn the vote of Alaskans all across the state.” The longtime GOP lawmaker represented Alaska for almost 50 years in Congress. Palin, the GOP's vice presidential candidate in 2008, will have another chance at reviving her political comeback. “Though we’re disappointed in this outcome, Alaskans know I’m the last one who’ll ever retreat.

Mary Peltola's victory delivers blow to Palin's hopes of political comeback and prompts concern for Republicans in November midterms.

In the first round, Peltola won 40% of the votes while Palin took 31% and her Republican rival, Nick Begich, gained 29%. Palin, who left the Alaska governor’s mansion in 2009, had been hoping to use the special election as a stepping stone towards a return to the national political stage. said only dead fish go with the flow”, prompting critics to “accuse her of a ‘flaky’ decision and walking away from her post”. It was being seen as a significant outcome on several levels – as a potential response to the recent US supreme court overturning of the constitutional right to abortion, to Trump’s enduring grip on the Republican party, and to Palin herself. Of the five contests, the Alaska result showed the biggest surge in Democratic support. The single House seat was held for almost 50 years by the Republican Don Young, until his death in March.

Mary Peltola will be the first woman to represent Alaska in the House of Representatives and the first Alaska Native ever to serve in Congress.

“As an Alaskan who was born and raised here and intends to be here the rest of my life, the fine people on this stage, I’m going to be working with them for the rest of my life. Please see our republishing guidelines for use of photos and graphics. House of Representatives and the first Alaska Native ever to serve in Congress. So you are not going to hear me say anything bad about any of the other leaders that are in this race,” Peltola said “I do have 10 years of experience in the Legislature. House race here in 50 years and will serve the remaining four months of the term left unfinished by Alaskans for Better Elections, the group that backed the installation of ranked choice voting, called the vote a success. Any legal challenge to the results must be filed by Sept. Follow Alaska Beacon on You can’t do 10 years of public service without disagreeing with half the people all the time. “In fact, I think God prepared me for an outcome like this, believe it or not. It isn’t yet clear when Peltola will be sworn into office and officially take her seat. I think God has kind of given me peace all along.”