2022 United States House of Representatives election in Alaska

2022 United States House of Representatives election in Alaska's at-large district

← 2022 (special) November 8, 2022 2024 →
 
Candidate Mary Peltola Sarah Palin Nick Begich III
Party Democratic Republican Republican
First round 128,553
48.8%
67,866
25.7%
61,513
23.3%
Maximum round 137,263
55.0%
112,471
45.0%
Eliminated

Peltola:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%      >90%
Palin:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%

U.S. Representative before election

Mary Peltola
Democratic

Elected U.S. Representative

Mary Peltola
Democratic

The November 2022 United States House of Representatives election in Alaska was held on Tuesday, November 8, to elect a member of the United States House of Representatives to represent the state of Alaska. Democratic incumbent Mary Peltola won reelection to a full term in office, defeating Republicans Sarah Palin and Nick Begich III and Libertarian Chris Bye in the runoff count.[1]

This was the second race in Alaska held under the 2020 Measure 2 election procedure. Earlier that year, a special election was held to complete the term of the late Don Young. Peltola won.[2]

In the race for the full term of the congressional seat, all candidates first ran in a nonpartisan blanket top-four primary. Each voter cast a single vote to choose who would advance to the runoff. Mary Peltola, Sarah Palin, Nick Begich III, and Chris Bye[note 1] advanced to the runoff.[3][4]

Under the rules of instant-runoff, Bye and Begich were eliminated in the first and second rounds, after they received the fewest votes. Because 66.8% of Begich's voters had ranked Palin second on their ballots, she received their votes after he was eliminated. Other voters of his had ranked Peltola second, and those votes were migrated to Peltola. She won with 55% of the vote, increasing her margin from the special election.[5]

Peltola's final-round vote share of 55% was the best performance for a statewide Democratic candidate in Alaska since the 1974 Senate race, and the best performance for any statewide candidate in Alaska since the 2012 House race. Peltola was one of only five House Democrats in the 2022 midterm elections who won (or flipped) a district that Donald Trump had carried in the 2020 presidential election.[a] She outran Joe Biden's vote share by more than 20%, the highest overperformance of any House Democrat in the midterms.

Election scientists observing this election noted that, in contrast to the previous special election, the general election involved few (if any) election pathologies. They noted that Begich was eliminated first (although a majority of voters had preferred him to Palin).[6] Peltola won the election as the majority-choice (Condorcet) candidate, with support from a majority of voters.[6]

  1. ^ Bradner, Eric (November 23, 2022). "CNN projects Rep. Mary Peltola will win race for Alaska House seat, thwarting Sarah Palin's political comeback again | CNN Politics". CNN. Retrieved November 24, 2022.
  2. ^ Ruskin, Liz (March 18, 2022). "Alaska Congressman Don Young has died". Alaska Public Media. Retrieved March 18, 2022.
  3. ^ Ruskin, Liz (August 23, 2022). "Tara Sweeney ends campaign for U.S. House, opening spot for Libertarian on November ballot". Alaska Public Media. Retrieved September 6, 2022. 'If a candidate who advances out of the primary withdraws 64 or more days before the general election, the fifth place candidate will advance instead,' a Division of Elections spokeswoman said by email.
  4. ^ Media, Andrew Kitchenman, KTOO and Alaska Public (November 18, 2020). "Alaska will have a new election system: Voters pass Ballot Measure 2". KTOO. Retrieved November 18, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  5. ^ Cochrane, Emily (November 24, 2022). "Mary Peltola Wins Bid to Serve Full Term in the House for Alaska". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 25, 2022.
  6. ^ a b Clelland, Jeanne N. (April 11, 2024). "Ranked Choice Voting And Condorcet Failure in the Alaska 2022 Special Election: How Might Other Voting Systems Compare?". arXiv:2303.00108 [cs.CY].


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