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Alaska's at-large congressional district | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Turnout | 32.16% [1] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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    Peltola: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% Palin: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Elections in Alaska |
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The 2022 Alaska at-large congressional district special election was held on August 16 to fill the seat left vacant after the death of Republican incumbent Don Young. [2] Mary Peltola defeated former governor Sarah Palin in the election, becoming the first Democrat to represent Alaska in the House since 1972, the first Alaska Native elected to Congress, and the first woman elected to represent Alaska in the House. [3]
Contents
- Nonpartisan blanket primary
- Candidates
- Endorsements
- Debates and forums
- Polling
- Results
- General election
- Predictions
- Endorsements 2
- Polling 2
- Results 2
- See also
- Notes
- References
The election was the first held after the passage of 2020 Alaska Measure 2, establishing a new procedure for elections. Under the new system, the top 4 candidates in a nonpartisan blanket primary advance to the general election. The general election is conducted using instant-runoff voting, a variant on traditional primaries where last-place candidates are repeatedly eliminated until only one candidate is left. Al Gross's withdrawal left only three names on the ballot in the general election.
The runoff count commenced on August 31, after all absentee and overseas ballots were counted. [4] [5] Peltola was declared the winner on August 31. [6] The Democratic victory was widely considered an upset due to Alaska's strong Republican lean. Peltola became the first Democrat to win a statewide or congressional election in Alaska since Mark Begich in 2008. [7] She was sworn in to the House of Representatives on September 13. [8]
The election generated controversy as a result of several election pathologies. The instant-runoff election produced a winner opposed by a majority of voters, [9] with both polls and analyses of the cast ballots finding that most voters preferred Nick Begich over both opponents. [10] Republican Sarah Palin played the role of spoiler by knocking out Begich in the first round. [9] [10] [11]
The election was also notable for being a participation failure, a situation where a candidate is disqualified as a result of receiving too many votes. [11] In this race, Peltola won as a result of 3% of Alaska ballots that ranked her last (after Palin and Begich). [10]
