Sarah Palin Loses in Alaska as Final Midterm Results Come In

As the last midterm results come in from Alaska and California, Republicans lead in the remaining uncalled House races while Alaska reelected an ideologically diverse slate of incumbents.

Summary

As the last midterm results come in from Alaska and California, Republicans lead in the remaining uncalled House races while Alaska reelected an ideologically diverse slate of incumbents.

• Democrat Mary Peltola was elected to a full two-year term on Wednesday, defeating former 2008 vice presidential candidate and Alaska governor Sarah Palin by a 10-point margin after ranked-choice votes were tabulated.
• Peltola won election to a full term with a greater margin than her initial victory over Palin in the August special election to fill the seat left vacant after the death of longtime Republican Congressman Don Young.
• Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a moderate Republican, defeated Donald Trump-backed challenger Kelly Tshibaka after election officials tabulated ranked-choice results after neither candidate won a majority of first-choice ballots.
• Murkowski won with 54 percent by picking up most votes cast for Democrat Pat Chesbro after she was eliminated.
• Trump targeted Murkowski for defeat after she voted to convict the former President for his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Murkowski was first appointed to the Senate in 2002 and has cultivated a moderate reputation in her two decades in office.
• Alaska Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy won a second term with over 50 percent of the vote without the need for ranked-choice voting, making him the first Alaska governor to win a second term since 1998.
• Only two House races remain uncalled, and Republicans lead in both. Republican farmer John Duarte is up by less than 600 votes over Democratic state legislator Adam Gray in the race for California’s 13^th District.
• The Associated Press hasn’t yet called Colorado’s 3^rd District for incumbent G.O.P. Rep. Lauren Boebert, even though her challenger conceded last week.

• POLITICO noted this was not Murkowski’s first run-in with a conservative challenger. First appointed to the Senate in 2002, Murkowski lost the 2010 Republican primary to a right-wing challenger, only to come back and win the general election as a write-in candidate.
• NBC News wrote Peltola’s victory cemented her hold over a seat Republicans held from 1973 until this summer. Her win represents a “blow to GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy and the Republicans, who were handed a razor-thin majority in this month’s midterm elections.”
• CNN pointed out the unusual personal dynamics in the Alaska House race. Peltola and Palin are friendly and praised each other on the campaign trail, while the race’s two Republicans – Palin and Nick Begich III – had a much more tense public relationship

• The Wall Street Journal’s coverage emphasized the key role of Alaska’s ranked-choice voting system in Murkowski and Peltola’s victories over Trump-backed challengers. Both women were able to build coalitions of Democrats, independents, and moderate Republicans to win in a state Trump easily won twice.
• Tshibaka, Murkowski’s Trump-backed challenger, blamed ranked choice voting and Sen. Mitch McConnell for her defeat. McConnell spent millions on Murkowski’s behalf as the “Alaska contest was seen by many as a proxy battle between McConnell and Trump.”
• Breitbart News noted, “Murkowski’s centrist positions have made her a much sought-after swing vote in the Senate, allowing her significant latitude on the Senate Indian Affairs Committee and the Appropriations Committee, which controls government funding.”

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© Dominic Moore, 2022