Democrat Mary Peltola won the special election for Alaska's only US 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 US Rep. Don Young's term, the AP reports. Young held the seat for 49 years before his death in March.
Peltola's victory, coming 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 US 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.
Palin had been 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 the endorsement of former President Trump. But opponents questioned her 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 appear in reality television programs, among other pursuits. Palin's defeat doesn't entirely mean she has lost her shot for the US House seat. Along with Peltola and Begich, she is among the candidates vying for a full two-year term that will be decided in the November general election.
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Peltola, 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. 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 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."
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