Alaska At-Large: Making History

Democrat Mary Peltola, a former state legislator, defeated two Republican opponents including former Gov. Sarah Palin, to win a special election to replace the late, longtime Rep. Don Young in Alaska.

It was the first time a Democrat won Alaska’s sole House seat since 1972, when Nick Begich, Sr. defeated Young despite having disappeared several weeks before the election. Begich’s grandson, Nick Begich III, was the other Republican in this year’s special election.

It was a fitting end to a month that saw President Joe Biden resuscitate his legislative agenda, House Democrats hold one hotly contested seat and come close to flipping two others (all in special elections), and abortion rights activists score a major win in Middle America.

When she takes office, Peltola will be the first woman, and the first Alaska Native, to represent the Last Frontier in the House of Representatives. 

The Ranked Choice System
The result is also notable because it is the first-ever application of Alaska’s unique instant runoff election system. Voters not only picked their preferred candidate, but also had the option of selecting a second and third choice.

In the event no candidate receives a majority of first-place votes, the candidate with the fewest first-place votes is eliminated and those ballots are redistributed based on second choice. If the voter only ranks one candidate and that candidate is eliminated, that ballot is “exhausted” and removed from the count.

Peltola won 40 percent of first-place votes, followed by Palin (31 percent) and Begich (29 percent).

After Begich was eliminated, his votes were redistributed by second choice. Of those 53,756 ballots, 50 percent went to Palin (27,042), 29 percent went to Peltola (15,445), and 21 percent (11,222) were exhausted,...