2022 Alaska's at-large congressional district special election

2022 Alaska's at-large congressional district special election

← 2020 August 16, 2022 November 2022 →
Alaska's at-large congressional district
Turnout	32.2%[1]
Candidate Mary Peltola Sarah Palin Nick Begich III Party Democratic Republican Republican First round 74,817 39.7% 58,339 30.9% 52,536 27.8% Final round 91,266 51.5% 86,026 48.5% Eliminated
First round results by State House district First round results by precinct Final round results by State House district Final round results by borough/census area Peltola:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90% Palin:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%
U.S. Representative before election Don Young Republican Elected U.S. Representative Mary Peltola Democratic

The 2022 Alaska at-large congressional district special election was held on August 16 to fill the seat left vacant after the death of Republican incumbent Don Young.^[2] Mary Peltola defeated former governor Sarah Palin in the election, becoming the first Democrat to represent Alaska in the House since 1972, the first Alaska Native elected to Congress, and the first woman elected to represent Alaska in the House.^[3]

The election was the first held after voters in 2020 approved Alaska Measure 2, which replaced traditional plurality voting with instant-runoff voting (IRV). Under the new system, the winners of a blanket top-four primary advanced to an instant-runoff election. However, only three candidates competed in the instant runoff election, as Al Gross withdrew and endorsed Peltola after finishing third in the primary. The runoff count commenced on August 31, after all absentee and overseas ballots were counted, and Peltola was declared the winner that day.^[4][5][6] The blanket primary's turnout of 32.2% was higher than in the last three primary elections.^[7]

The Democratic victory was widely considered an upset because Alaska voters have long favored Republicans. Peltola became the first Democrat to win a statewide or congressional election in Alaska since Mark Begich won a US Senate seat in 2008.^[8] Peltola was sworn in to the House of Representatives on September 13.^[9]

The results of the new voting system were praised by many pundits and activists. FairVote, a lobbyist group in favor of instant runoff voting, argued the low number of spoiled ballots proved Alaskans could use and understand the system.^[7] Former presidential candidate Andrew Yang said the election served as a model for electing more moderate candidates to office, regardless of partisan affiliation.^[10]

Some social choice and election scientists criticized the election in published opinion pieces, saying it had several perceived flaws, which they technically term pathologies.^[11][12] They cited Begich's elimination as an example of a center squeeze, a scenario in which the candidate closest to the center of public opinion is eliminated due to failing to receive enough first choice votes.^[13][14][15] More voters ranked Begich above Peltola, but Palin played the role of spoiler by knocking Begich out of contention in the first round of the run-off.^[16] Specialists also said the election was notable as a negative vote weight event, as those who voted for Palin first and Begich second instead helped Peltola win by pushing Palin ahead of Begich in the first round.^[12][17]

Elections scientists were careful to note that such flaws (which in technical terms they call pathologies) likely would have occurred under Alaska's previous primary system as well. In that binary system, winners of each party primary run against each other in the general election. Several suggested alternative systems that could replace either of these systems.