The race to determine who will fill out the remainder of Young’s term pits former Gov. Sarah Palin, the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee who has not appeared on the ballot since that election loss, against Nick Begich III, who won the endorsement of the Alaska Republican Party in April and is the product of a powerful Alaska Democratic political family and former Democratic state Rep. Mary Peltola. All three candidates and independent Al Gross advanced to the August special general election after a nonpartisan June special primary, but Gross withdrew from the race and encouraged his supporters to support Peltola. Palin’s bid for a political comeback comes 13 years after she resigned from the Alaska governor’s office in 2009 during her only term. Since then, he has been a conservative media personality and has endorsed and campaigned with various Republican candidates, but has largely disengaged from Alaska politics. Although Palin was the best-known candidate in the race by far and had the support of former President Donald Trump, who carried Alaska by 10 points in 2020, rival candidates and political observers in the state previously said the ranked-choice voting process could to hurt her. odds in the special general election. He also faced opposition from voters still angry that he resigned from the governor’s office. Regardless of who wins the special general election to fill out the remainder of Young’s term, there will be a regular general election, which will also use ranked-choice voting, in November to determine who will hold the seat in the next Congress. Palin, Begić and Peltola were also among the candidates on the ballot for Tuesday’s primary. All three will advance to the November election, CNN predicted, with a fourth candidate to be determined. In the Senate race, GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski, Trump supporter Kelly Tshibaka and Democrat Patricia Chesbro will advance. in November, CNN plans, against a fourth candidate to be determined. Murkowski became a target of the former president after he voted to convict him in his January 2021 impeachment trial.
