Sarah Palin, the former Alaska Republican governor and 2008 vice presidential candidate, lost a special election to Democrat Mary Peltola for Alaska’s lone U.S. House seat. Peltola’s victory was declared Wednesday night, two weeks after voters cast ballots in the state’s first-ever ranked-choice voting election. In a close race, the Democrat, a former state legislator, defeated Palin and one other Republican candidate, Nick Begich III.
As The Daily Wire reports:
With her victory, Peltola became the state’s first indigenous person elected to Congress. She has campaigned on fighting climate change, strengthening Obamacare, supporting abortion rights, and defending the leftist LGBTQ Equality Act.
After the votes were tallied and Begich III was in third place, his votes went to the voters’ second option, giving Peltola 51.5% to Palin’s 48.5%. Political consultant Sarah Erkmann Ward pointed to Wednesday’s results as a “big wake-up call to Republicans” for how they should vote under the new ranked-choice system.
“Today’s reels should illustrate to Republicans very clearly that when they choose not to rank, there’s a good possibility that when their favorite candidate is eliminated, then their vote will no longer be in the mix. That appears to be what happened here,” she said, according to the Anchorage Daily News. “A certain segment of Republicans elected not to rank. That’s the consequence of not continuing on down your ballot.”
While Peltola defeated Palin in the special House race to immediately fill Alaska’s lone congressional seat left open after the death of Republican Rep. Don Young, the two will meet again in November for an election that will determine who gets the position for the full two-year term, the Anchorage Daily News reported. The seat had been filled by Young for nearly 50 years before he died in March.
According to Politico, Palin, who was endorsed in the race by former President Donald Trump, spent four times the amount of money spent by the Peltola campaign. Many people are surprised by the outcome, not only because Republicans have dominated the state for decades, but also because Trump defeated President Joe Biden in Alaska by 10 points in 2020.
Hum – 2 weeks of counting – that seems fair NOT
THE DEMS COULD NOT AFFORD TO HAVE PALIN WIN,
I SUSPECT THE SAME TACTIC THAT THEY USED AGAINST TRUMP IS PROBABLY THE REASON.
Palin didn’t lose. With its absurd election process, Alaska has confirmed its reputation as a laughingstock state of the US. Is it trying to out-California California?
The whole damn country is a laughingstock. We all know what is happening.
ALASKANS JUST MADE A BIG MISTAKE AND NOW THEY WILL PAY FOR IT. ESKIMOS BABY KILLERS AND NO GUNS ALLOWED.
Did Alaska have a huge infusion of Commiefornia transplants?
She her in Nov??
Hope Alaskans change their minds in November. They are courting disaster.
Actually, Palin didn’t lose; the citizens of Alaska lost the opportunity to choose their potential representative. The election was stolen by the absurd procedure, which makes Alaska a laughingstock among US states.
THIS IS NOT A MAJOR LOSS FOR PALIN!!! She only lost because of Alaska’s stupid primary rules. Regardless of party, several persons can run, with loser’s votes going to others. It came down to 3: 2 Republicans, 1 Democrat. The 2nd R took votes from Palin or she would have won hands down. But the rules gave his votes to the D because she was ahead of the other 2. Plus, it’s only a temporary 2-month position that is up in Nov. Palin will run against her again and win handily.
I don’t know why she agreed to be bound by such a hair-brained election scheme.
Alaska voters are FUBAR in general.
The fact that they turned the points for a republican candidate to the second place candidate doesn’t seem very fair. The republicans should win it back at the mid-terms since their totals far offset the democratic vote totals … going head to head.