On August 31, Democrat Mary Peltola was elected to Alaska’s lone U.S. House seat in a special election. She beat former Republican governor Sarah Palin, who was planning a political return. According to the unofficial results provided by the Alaska Division of Elections, Peltola won the seat after the results of ranked-choice votes were calculated. She will now serve the balance of the term of the late Republican U.S. Rep. Don Young, who died in March 2022 after holding the position for over 50 years.
According to NPR, Mary Peltola won by a slim margin, receiving 91,206 votes to Palin’s 85,987. Peltola’s election made her the first Alaskan-born member of Congress. She is also the first Democrat elected to Congress since the late U.S. Rep. Nick Begich, who died in 1972 and was replaced by Young in 1973.
Huge congrats to @MaryPeltola, who just made history to become the first Alaska Native to serve in Congress and the first woman to hold the seat, flipping it after 49 years of Republican control. Oh and she also beat Sarah Palin. pic.twitter.com/sxWiIYwK5S
— Meena Harris (@meena) September 1, 2022
Everything you need to know about Mary Peltola
Mary Peltola, a Yup’ik lady from Anchorage, Alaska, is 48 years old. She has degrees from the University of Alaska and the University of Northern Colorado. After leaving the state legislature, she founded Sattler Strategies and worked as the manager of community development and sustainability at Donlin Gold. From 2011 to 2013, she served as the temporary executive director of the Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission and as a councilwoman in Bethel, Alaska. She was a member of the Alaska House of Representatives from 1999 until 2009.
Mary Peltola highlighted how Congress should act to protect abortion rights and institutionalize Roe v. Wade in an interview with the Anchorage Daily News. She stated the following comments while elaborating on how to create better gun laws in the country:
“Secure storage legislation, reasonable waiting periods, and universal background checks may keep us all safer while safeguarding the rights protected by the Second Amendment.”
In Alaska’s special House election, a Democrat defeated former Governor Sarah Palin
Mary Peltola ran against Sarah Palin, Nick Begich III, and Al Gross for Alaska’s U.S. House seat. However, Gross dropped out of the contest in the middle, throwing a lot of Democratic political power behind Peltola. The elections were conducted on August 16, and the results were announced 15 days later when Mary Peltola was declared the winner of the extraordinary election.
According to CNN, Sarah Palin was upset with the August 31 results and questioned the ranked-choice voting. She even referred to it as a “complicated and perplexing” procedure. Palin stated:
“Though we’re upset with the decision, Alaskans know I’m the last one to back down. Instead, I’m going to reload. With the hope that Alaskans will learn from this voting system error and remedy it in the next election, let us fight even harder to send an America First conservative to Washington in November.”
Sarah Palin planned to return to politics 14 years after John McCain nominated her as the Republican vice presidential contender in 2008. During her House campaign, she gained national attention and received the endorsement of former American President Donald Trump. However, after losing, she resigned from the governor’s office in 2009, halfway through her tenure.
