Republican former Alaska governor Sarah Palin got a big win in her political comeback Saturday by advancing to the August general election in the race to fill the late Rep. Don Young’s House seat.
Palin finished in the top four of a 48-person special primary election.
She will be joined by Republican Nick Begich, the grandson of former Rep. Nick Begich (D-AK), and nonpartisan Al Gross, a surgeon.
They will move forward to the general election on August 16, with the fourth slot too close to call.
This is the first election held after the state made changes to its system and instituted open primaries and ranked-choice voting.
According to Newsmax: “The early results showed Palin, endorsed by former President Donald Trump, with 29.8% of the votes counted so far; Republican Nick Begich had 19.3%; independent Al Gross had 12.5%; Democrat Mary Peltola with 7.5%, and Republican Tara Sweeney had 5.3%.
“A candidate whose name is Santa Claus, a self-described ‘independent, progressive, democratic socialist,’ had 4.5%.”
Thank you Alaska! ❤️🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/wlMSaOneqS
— Sarah Palin (@SarahPalinUSA) June 12, 2022
According to NBC:
“Here’s how the new voting system works: Alaskans cast ballots for single candidates in an open, nonpartisan primary race.
The top four vote-getters advance to the general election, in which voters rank four candidates in order of preference.
“Any candidate who gets more than 50 percent of the vote wins the race.
“If no one gets a majority, the candidate with the fewest first-choice votes is eliminated, and ballots cast for the eliminated candidate are recast for voters’ second choices.
“The elimination and retabulation process continues until only two candidates are left.
“The candidate with the most votes wins.”
According to CNN:
“Votes are still being tallied to determine the fourth slot, with two candidates who each could make history as the first Alaska Native elected to Congress — former Democratic state Rep. Mary Peltola and Republican Tara Sweeney, who was backed by a coalition of the state’s Native corporations — in fourth and fifth place among the ballots tallied so far.
“Santa Claus, a North Pole councilman and democratic socialist, is in sixth place.
“Lawyer and gardening columnist Jeff Lowenfels, former Republican state Sen. John Coghill, Democratic Anchorage Assembly member Christopher Constant, Democratic state Rep. Adam Wool, and Republican state Sen. Josh Revak, who was endorsed by Young’s widow, are also among the contenders.”
