Sarah Palin Loses Comeback Bid For State’s Lone House Seat

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Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor and 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee, lost her bid for a political comeback Wednesday, falling in the election to fill the remainder of the late Congressman Don Young’s term.

Palin was in a three-way runoff with fellow Republican Nick Begich, grandson of a former holder of the seat and nephew of former Alaska Sen. Mark Begich, as well as Democrat Mary Peltola, the surprise winner.

But a rematch is in the offing, as Palin, Begich and Peltola were also on the ballot in the separate primary vote and qualified for the final November vote for a full term as the state’s sole representative in the U.S. House beginning in January 2023.

The election Palin lost was to fill out the few remaining months until the new 118th Congress is seated in January and was made necessary by the death in March of Young, the Republican who had represented the state since 1973.

The Alaska special election that Sarah Palin lost was necessitated by the death in March of Rep. Don Young, who at the time of his death was the longest-serving House member. A public service was held for Young in the U.S. Capitol's Statuary Hall. — The Alaska special election that Sarah Palin lost was necessitated by the death in March of Rep. Don Young, who at the time of his death was the longest-serving House member. A public service was held for Young in the U.S. Capitol’s Statuary Hall.

Palin burst on to the national political scene in 2008 when she was picked by John McCain, a Republican senator from Arizona, to be his running mate for the White House. Palin, with her populist rhetoric and take-it-to-them energy, was meant to add excitement to the campaign but instead led many to question McCain’s judgment after she made a series of missteps.

Her primary finish in the top four means she’s staved off a return to the political wilderness she experienced after McCain’s 2008 loss and her resignation as governor of Alaska in 2009. After that, she did various things to maintain a public profile, including a stint at Fox News as an analyst and appearing as a pink and purple costumed bear on Fox’s “The Masked Singer” reality show, where she sang Sir Mix-a-Lot’s “Baby Got Back.”

The election to replace Young was conducted using Alaska’s new ranked-choice system, in which voters can choose the order in which they prefer candidates and those rankings are used to eliminate candidates until one receives a majority of the vote.

The primary ballot, however, was a traditional “pick one” line, and the top four will be on a ranked-choice ballot in November.

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2 2 minutes read