Businessman Nick Begich, a Republican endorsed by Donald Trump, beat first-term Rep. Mary Peltola (D-Alaska) for the state’s sole seat in the House of Representatives.
Begich’s win Wednesday came after the Alaska Division of Elections tabulated voters’ backup choices under the state’s novel ranked choice voting system.
Neither Begich nor Peltola were able to garner a majority of first-choice votes on Nov. 5, setting up the need to tabulate the ranked choice totals. Begich came into the night with a bit over 48% of the vote, though, and was thus heavily favored to win.
Begich won 51.31% after two rounds of ranked choice tabulations, compared to Peltola’s 48.69%.
Four candidates were competing in all, and while Peltola and Begich ― a member of a prominent Alaska political family ― were the most well known, many observers had thought it was unlikely either could win outright Nov. 5, and that at least one round of vote tabulation would be required.
Under Alaska’s ranked choice voting system, voters rank their picks in a field of candidates instead of only picking one candidate to vote for. If no one gets a majority of first-place votes, then the second round of tabulation begins, with the first-place votes of the lowest-ranked candidate thrown out and the second-place choices of those voters allocated among the remaining candidates. This process goes on until a candidate gets a majority. Maine is the only other state to use such a system.
Tuesday’s victory marked a turnabout for Begich, who lost his bid for the House in 2022 as Peltola and former Gov. Sarah Palin (R) came in ahead of him in the general election. After Begich was eliminated, enough of his supporters chose Peltola to put her over the top.
Peltola, who is of Yup’ik descent in a state where 1 out of 5 residents is Indigenous, made history as the first Alaska Native to be elected to the House from the state. While she tried to carve a moderate path for herself, her seat’s history of having been occupied by Republican Don Young for 49 years, until his death in 2022, put it high on the GOP’s target list this year.
Begich’s grandfather of the same name posthumously won election to the House in 1972, when his plane disappeared but his name could not be taken off the ballot. An uncle of Begich’s, Mark, also served as a U.S. senator for the state.
Democracy In The Balance
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See full results from the Alaska House election here.