Alaska Native Peltola beats Trump-backed Palin to win House election

Democrat Mary Peltola has won the special election for Alaska’s only US House seat, 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 Don Young's term. Young held the seat for 49 years before his death in March. 

Peltola's victory, in Alaska's first statewide ranked-choice voting election, is a boon for Democrats coming off better-than-expected performances in special elections around the country following the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v Wade. 

She will be the first Democrat to hold the seat since the late US Republican 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.

The results came 15 days after the August 16 election, in line with the deadline for state elections officials to receive absentee ballots mailed from outside the US. Ranked choice tabulations took place on Wednesday after no candidate won more than 50 percent of the first choice votes. 

Wednesday's results were a disappointment for Palin, who was 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 won the endorsement of former president Donald Trump.

Peltola's 'regular Alaskan' campaign

But critics questioned Palin's 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 appeared in reality TV programmes, among other pursuits.

Along with Peltola and Begich, Palin is among the candidates vying for a full two-year term that will be decided in the November general election.

Palin has insisted her commitment to Alaska never wavered and said ahead of the special election that she had “signed up for the long haul.”

Peltola, a former state lawmaker 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.

"I’m really hopeful that voters will feel like they can vote their heart and not feel pressured to vote for the candidate that they think is most 'viable,'" Peltola said before the special election. "And my hope is that we shy away from the really extreme-type candidates and politicians."

During the campaign, she emphasised her support of abortion rights and said she wanted to elevate issues of ocean productivity and food security. 

Explaining Alaska's new voting system

Alaska voters in 2020 approved an election process that replaced party primaries with open primaries. Under the new system, ranked voting is used in general elections.

Under ranked voting, ballots are counted in rounds. A candidate can win outright with more than 50 percent of the vote in the first round. If no one hits that threshold, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated. 

Voters who chose that candidate as their top pick have their votes count for their next choice. Rounds continue until two candidates remain, and whoever has the most votes wins.

In Alaska, voters last backed a Democrat for president in 1964.