2022 United States House of Representatives elections in Alaska
2022 Alaska's at-large congressional district special election was held on August 16, 2022 somewhere in Alaska. Results were announced on August 31, 2022.[1]
The 2022 Alaska's at-large congressional district special election was held on August 16, 2022. Democrat Mary Peltola won the open seat, becoming the first of her party to win a U.S. House election in Alaska since 1972. Peltola, who is a Yup'ik woman, is the first Alaska Native elected to Congress, and the first woman elected to represent Alaska in the House.[2] She defeated Republican former governor Sarah Palin in the state's first ranked-choice general election.
The seat became vacant when 49-year incumbent Republican representative Don Young died on March 18, 2022, on a flight home from D.C.[3] A special primary election was held on June 11, while the general election was held alongside the regular primary election on August 16. The filing deadline was on April 1.[4] This was the first election to use the state's new voting system. Under the new system, all candidates compete in a single blanket primary. This is conducted using Single non-transferable vote where either one candidate takes a majority of the vote and is elected or the top four candidates go on to a general election.
The special primary election took place in June 2022, and the top four vote-getters were set to advance to a general election. The third-placed candidate in the primary, Al Gross, withdrew, so only the other three names were on the ballot in the general election. This election used ranked-choice voting, with the winner being the one who accumulated a majority of the votes (or a majority of votes in play at that point in time).
The runoff count commenced on August 31, after all absentee and overseas ballots were counted.[5][6] Peltola was declared the winner on August 31.[7] The Democratic victory was widely considered an upset due to Alaska's strong Republican lean. Peltola became the first Democrat to win a statewide election in Alaska since Mark Begich in 2008.[8] Peltola was sworn in to the House of Representatives on September 13, 2022.[9]
References
- ↑ Reuters (2022-08-31). "Democrat Mary Peltola wins special election to fill Alaska's U.S. House seat". Reuters. Retrieved 2022-09-01.
- ↑ Rockey, Tim. "Peltola to become first Alaska Native, first female Alaska congresswoman". Alaskasnewssource.com. Retrieved 2022-09-01.
- ↑ Miller, Andrew Mark (March 18, 2022). "Alaska Republican Congressman Don Young dead at 88". w:Fox News. Archived from the original on March 19, 2022. Retrieved March 18, 2022.
- ↑ Herz, Nathaniel; Brooks, James (March 22, 2022). "After Young's death, Alaska's political world braces for a sea change and an elections marathon". w:Anchorage Daily News. Archived from the original on March 22, 2022. Retrieved March 22, 2022.
- ↑ Brooks, James (March 19, 2022). "Alaska's first ranked-choice election will be a special vote to replace Rep. Don Young". Anchorage Daily News. Archived from the original on March 23, 2022. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
- ↑ Iris Samuels. "Peltola again grows her lead, but final outcome in Alaska's U.S. House race is days away". Anchorage Daily News. Archived from the original on August 28, 2022. Retrieved 2022-08-28.
- ↑ "Democrat Mary Peltola wins special election to fill Alaska's U.S. House seat". Reuters. 2022-09-01. Archived from the original on September 1, 2022. Retrieved 2022-09-01.
- ↑ Rakich, Nathaniel (2022-09-01). "What Democrats' Win In Alaska Tells Us About November". FiveThirtyEight. Retrieved 2022-09-01.
- ↑ Sabbatini, Mark (September 5, 2022). "Peltola to be sworn in Sept. 13". Juneau Empire. Archived from the original on September 8, 2022.