Businessman Nick Begich, a Donald Trump-backed Republican, defeated first-term Rep. Mary Peltola (D-Alaska) for the state’s lone seat in the House of Representatives.
Begich’s victory came Wednesday after the Alaska Division of Elections mapped out voters’ backup choices under the state’s new ranked voting system.
Neither Begich nor Peltola were able to secure a majority of first choice votes on November 5, creating the need to tabulate the ranked choice totals. However, Begich entered the evening with just over 48% of the votes and was therefore heavily favored to win.
Begich won 51.31% after two rounds of ranked choice tables, compared to Peltola’s 48.69%.
A total of four candidates ran, and while Peltola and Begich — a member of a prominent Alaskan political family — were the best known, many observers had thought it unlikely that either could win outright. November 5and that at least An A vote would be necessary.
Under Alaska’s ranked voting system, voters rank their choices in a field of candidates rather than choosing just one candidate to vote for. If no one receives a majority of first-place votes, the second round of tabulation begins, with the first-place votes of the lowest-ranked candidate being discarded and those voters’ second-place choices distributed among the remaining candidates. This process continues until a candidate receives a majority. Maine is the only other state that uses such a system.
Tuesday’s victory marked a turnaround for Begich, who lost his bid for the House of Representatives in 2022 when Peltola and former Gov. Sarah Palin (R) preceded him in the general election. After Begich was eliminated, there were plenty of his supporters chose Peltola to put her on top.
Peltola, who is of Yup’ik descent in a state where 1 in 5 residents is indigenous, has made history as the first Alaskan elected to the House from the state. As she tried to chart a moderate path for herself, the history of her seat, which was held by Republican Don Young for 49 years until his death in 2022, placed her high on the GOP’s list of goals this year .
Begich’s grandfather of the same name posthumously won election to the House of Representatives in 1972, when his plane disappeared but his name could not be removed from the ballot. An uncle of Begich’s, Mark, also served as a U.S. senator for the state.
View the full results of the Alaska House elections here.
