1970 United States House of Representatives election in Alaska

1970 United States House of Representatives election in Alaska
	Results by state house district; Begich: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90%; Murkowski: 50–60%
Representative at-large before election; Howard Pollock ; Republican	Elected Representative at-large; Nick Begich ; Democratic

Last updated July 23, 2023

The Alaska congressional election of 1970 was held on Tuesday, November 3, 1970. The term of the state's sole Representative to the United States House of Representatives expired on January 3, 1971. Incumbent Howard Wallace Pollock retired to run for Governor of Alaska. The winning candidate would serve a two-year term from January 3, 1971, to January 3, 1973. Nick Begich defeated former Alaska Commissioner of Economic Development & Anchorage banker Frank Murkowski, by a margin of 10.2%.^[1]

Begich would go missing on October 16th 1972, posthumously win the 1972 election, be declared dead on December 29th, 1972, and be succeeded by Don Young, who won the 1973 special election. Young would hold the seat for 49 years, until his death in 2022. Murkowski would be elected U.S. Senator in the 1980 Senate election, and later become Governor for one term in the 2002 gubernatorial election.

Campaign

Begich, now more experienced following his 1968 campaign, had maintained many files from the prior campaign, knowing full well how to campaign amongst the vast, sparsely populated state. Murkowski, a banker with little to no political experience, relied instead on his economic experience, being a 28-year Alaska resident & senior banker, notably serving as Alaska Commissioner of Economic Development under Governor Walter Hickel, as well as tying himself to the policies of popular freshman U.S. Senator Ted Stevens & President Richard Nixon. Begich used simple but effective campaign slogans such as "You must be able to trust your Congressman" and "A true representative of all the people", as well as relying on his voting record in the State Senate. Murkowski countered by campaigning on legislation to raise military pay as to provide more incentive to serve, as well as an all-volunteer military.

Republicans were much more successful in raising campaign funding, but Democrats brought more people, as was shown when the Republicans sold 100 $10 tickets to a Fairbanks rally where U.S. Senator John Tower spoke, just for Democrats to draw a crowd of 500, admission free, to a rally at Alaskaland. Due to Begich's support for the Alaska Federation of Natives' views on Alaska land claims disputes, a high issue since statehood, Begich performed very well amongst native voters and the 'Bush' regions of Alaska, especially due to the Republican tickets' failure to adequately address economic concerns, something key for the economically depressed natives.^[1]

General election

Results

1970 Alaska at-large congressional district election^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Nick Begich	44,137	55.1%	+9.3%
	Republican	Frank Murkowski	35,947	44.9%	-9.3%
Total votes			80,084	100.00%

Related Research Articles

Since Alaska became a U.S. state in 1959, it has sent congressional delegations to the United States Senate and United States House of Representatives. Each state elects two senators to serve for six years, and member(s) of the House to two-year terms. Before becoming a state, the Territory of Alaska elected a non-voting delegate at-large to Congress from 1906 to 1959.

Frank Hughes Murkowski is an American politician. A member of the Republican Party, he served as a United States Senator representing Alaska from 1981 to 2002 and as the eighth governor of Alaska from 2002 to 2006.

Lisa Ann Murkowski is an American attorney and politician serving as the senior United States senator representing Alaska, having held that seat since 2002. She is the Senate's second-most senior Republican woman, after Susan Collins of Maine. She became dean of Alaska's Congressional delegation upon Representative Don Young's death.

Nicholas Joseph Begich Sr. was an American politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from Alaska. He is presumed to have died in the crash of a light aircraft in Alaska in 1972; his body was never found. He was a member of the Democratic Party.

Mark Peter Begich is an American politician who served as a United States senator from Alaska from 2009 to 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as mayor of Anchorage from 2003 to 2009.

The Alaska Democratic Party is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in Alaska, headquartered in Anchorage.

Although in its early years of statehood, Alaska was a Democratic state, since the early 1970s it has been characterized as Republican-leaning. Local political communities have often worked on issues related to land use development, fishing, tourism, and individual rights. Alaska Natives, while organized in and around their communities, have been active within the Native corporations. These have been given ownership over large tracts of land, which require stewardship. The state has an independence movement favoring a vote on secession from the United States, with the Alaskan Independence Party, but its membership has shrunk in recent decades.

The 1980 United States Senate election in Alaska was held on November 4, 1980. Incumbent Democratic United States Senator Mike Gravel ran for a third term in the United States Senate, but lost in the Democratic primary to Clark Gruening, a former state representative who was the grandson of Ernest Gruening, whom Gravel had defeated twelve years prior in an election for the same seat. Gruening later went on to lose the general election to Republican nominee Frank Murkowski, a banker.

Mary Sattler Peltola is an American politician and former tribal judge serving as the U.S. representative from Alaska's at-large congressional district since September 2022. She previously served as a judge on the Orutsararmiut Native Council's tribal court, executive director of the Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, Bethel city councillor and member of the Alaska House of Representatives.

The 2004 United States Senate election in Alaska took place on November 2, 2004, alongside other elections to the United States Senate in other states as well as elections to the United States House of Representatives, various state and local elections, and the presidential election of that year. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski of Anchorage, sought election to her first full term after being appointed by her father Frank Murkowski to serve out the rest of the latter's unexpired term when he resigned in December 2002 to become Governor of Alaska. Her main challenger was Democratic former governor Tony Knowles, her father's predecessor as governor. Murkowski won by a slight margin.

The 2008 United States presidential election in Alaska took place on November 4, 2008, as part of the nationwide presidential election held throughout all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Voters chose 3 electors, or representatives to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

The 1986 United States Senate election in Alaska was held on November 4, 1986. Incumbent Republican United States Senator Frank Murkowski ran for a second term in the United States Senate and was primarily opposed by Alaska Pacific University President Glenn Olds. Following a highly competitive election in 1980, Murkowski faced a legitimate opponent in Glenn Olds, and the contest was fairly close. However, in the end, Murkowski was able to defeat Olds by a slightly wider margin than he won by six years prior.

The 1972 United States House of Representatives election in Alaska was held on November 7, 1972, to elect the United States representative from Alaska's at-large congressional district. Incumbent Democratic Representative Nick Begich went missing shortly before the general election, but still defeated Republican nominee Don Young.

The 1970 United States Senate special election in Alaska was held on November 3, 1970, to fill a seat in the United States Senate following the December 1968 death of Democrat Bob Bartlett, who had been Alaska's senior Senator since statehood in 1959. Republican Ted Stevens was appointed to the seat temporarily on December 24, 1968, to serve until the election could be held.

The 2016 United States Senate election in Alaska was held on November 8, 2016, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the State of Alaska, concurrently with the 2016 U.S. presidential election, as well as other elections to the United States Senate in other states and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections.

The 2018 Alaska gubernatorial election took place on November 6, 2018, to elect the governor and lieutenant governor of Alaska. In the primaries for recognized political parties, candidates for governor and lieutenant governor run separately. The winners of each respective primary for governor and lieutenant governor then become a joint ticket in the general election for their political party. Incumbent independent governor Bill Walker was running for re-election in what was originally a three-way race between Walker, Republican former state senator Mike Dunleavy, and Democratic nominee Mark Begich, a former U.S. Senator. However, Walker dropped out on October 19, 2018, and endorsed Begich. In spite of Walker dropping out, Dunleavy defeated Begich in what would become the only gubernatorial gain by a Republican candidate in 2018.

The 1973 Alaska's at-large congressional district special election was held on March 6, 1973, to elect the United States representative from Alaska's at-large congressional district. Incumbent Democratic Representative Nick Begich had won reelection in 1972, but had gone missing shortly before the election.

The 2022 Alaska gubernatorial election was held on Tuesday November 8, 2022, to elect the governor of Alaska. Incumbent Republican Governor Mike Dunleavy won re-election to a second term, becoming the first Republican governor to be re-elected to a second term since Jay Hammond in 1978 and the first governor, regardless of political affiliation, to be re-elected to a second term since Tony Knowles in 1998.

The November 2022 United States House of Representatives election in Alaska was held on Tuesday November 8, to elect a member of the United States House of Representatives to represent the state of Alaska. Democratic incumbent Mary Peltola won reelection to a full term in office, defeating Republicans Sarah Palin and Nick Begich III and Libertarian Chris Bye in the runoff count.

The 2022 Alaska state elections took place on November 8, 2022. The state also held Regional Educational Attendance Area (REAA) elections on the first Tuesday in October.

References

1 2 Chinn, Ronald E. “The 1970 Election in Alaska.” The Western Political Quarterly, vol. 24, no. 2, 1971, pp. 234–42. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/446868. Accessed 5 Mar. 2023.
↑ "Election Results". JSTOR 446868.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[ronchi-1] 1 2 Chinn, Ronald E. “The 1970 Election in Alaska.” The Western Political Quarterly, vol. 24, no. 2, 1971, pp. 234–42. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/446868. Accessed 5 Mar. 2023.

[election-2] "Election Results". JSTOR 446868.

[1]

[2]