Alaska’s Republican former Gov. Sarah Palin will advance from her primary to the general election for the state’s at-large congressional district.
Palin, Republican Nick Begich, and Democrat Mary Peltola have all been projected to advance to November’s general election for Alaska’s lone House seat.
The former governor issued a statement celebrating the news and renewed her vow to “fight” against the “ever-growing corruption in Washington, D.C.”
Palin said: “As we wrap up the first phase of a wild and crazy election season, I would like to thank these wonderful supporters for placing their trust in me to be a fierce and unapologetic advocate for the interests of all Alaskans!
“I promise I won’t let you down,” she said.
“I will be honored to fight for Alaska against the ever-growing corruption in Washington, D.C. I’m especially grateful to everyone who volunteered to help campaign – you guys are the happy warriors who make campaigning fun, and it’s an honor working with you.
“I know you’ll have the stamina to stick with me on the campaign trail through November.
“Today is the first test case of the crazy, convoluted, undesirable ranked-choice voting system, and to everyone who’s watching from Outside tonight, I say: Please, learn from Alaska’s mistake.
“Voters are confused and angry and feel disenfranchised by this cockamamie system that makes it impossible to trust that your vote will even be counted the way you intended.
“We’ll keep fighting to equip Alaskans with the information they need to make sure their voices are heard amidst this Leftist-crafted system – no matter how hard the corrupt political establishment works to silence us.”
There was another election with Palin last night, a special election to fill the seat of GOP Rep. Don Young, who died in March.
Alaska uses a ranked-choice voting system.
The race is too early to call but Palin sits in a good spot.
If she was ranked near the top of other GOP ballots, which is highly likely, she should win.
Whoever wins will have the seat until January when the winner of the November election is sworn in.
According to CNBC:
Palin was also competing against both Republican and Democratic candidates to serve the remainder of the term for the seat in Congress that was vacated by the death of GOP Rep. Don Young in March.
The special election was conducted using the new ranked-choice voting system.
NBC projects no candidate will win a majority of the votes in the first round. Results in that race are not expected to be fully tabulated until later this month.
Palin is competing in the special election against the same people as she will be competing against in the general.
She currently sits in second place.
The Democrat candidate is in first with 38%.
Palin is next with 33%.
But the third place is Republican Nick Begich with 29% and one would assume Palin is the second choice on those ballots.
If so, she will be in D.C. sooner rather than later.
From The Anchorage Daily News:
Peltola, a Yup’ik former state lawmaker from Bethel and the only Democrat in the race, took an early lead with nearly 38% of first-place votes.
Palin, propelled by her name recognition, was in second place with over 33% of first-place votes. Begich, a businessman making his first run at statewide elected office, was in third place with just over 29%.
As of 11 p.m. Tuesday, the Alaska Division of Elections has counted over 120,000 ballots in the race that will determine Alaska’s next representative in Congress, in a special election to replace 49-year Rep. Don Young, who died unexpectedly in March.
The Division will continue to accept ballots until Aug. 31, as long as they were postmarked on or before election day.
Once the last ballots are counted — if no candidate crosses the 50% threshold needed to win under the state’s new ranked choice voting system — the candidate in last place will be eliminated and the second-place votes of that candidate’s supporters will be redistributed.
