Free Republic

November’s ranked-choice election [for Congress] is a toss-up.

Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola’s husband, Eugene, was killed in a plane crash in Alaska early Wednesday, her office announced. The 50-year-old lawmaker, in Washington for the return of Congress from its August recess, planned to head home to the Last Frontier to be with her family. “He was one of those people that was obnoxiously good at everything. He had a delightful sense of humor that lightened the darkest moments,” her office said in a statement. “He was definitely the cook in the family. And family was most important to him. He was completely devoted to his parents, kids, siblings,...

Rep. Mary Peltola announced the departure of three key members of her official Washington, D.C. staff, including Senior Policy Advisor Larry Persily, Interim Communications Director Josh Wilson, and her Interim Director of Scheduling and Operations Paula Conru. Although when she started her career in Congress much was made about how she hired Republicans (Persily is not among those), she is getting a staff of almost-all Democrats. Alex Ortiz of Ketchikan, her chief of staff who served as Congressman Don Young’s final chief of staff, may be the final remaining non-Democrat in her office. Persily is nonpartisan and a longtime Alaskan,...

The Alaska GOP formally censured Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell over the weekend for the Kentucky lawmaker’s interference in the Arctic Senate race between two Republicans. On Monday, the state Republican central committee announced the results of an overwhelming vote to admonish the national party leader over attack ads against Kelly Tshibaka, the candidate endorsed by the Alaska GOP who is challenging incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski. The final vote came to 49-8 in favor of a resolution censuring McConnell and the minority leader’s Senate Leadership Fund (SLF) which has pumped more than $5 million into the race to defend a...

Embattled Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) acknowledged over the weekend that casting a vote for Democrat House candidate Rep. Mary Peltola (D-AK) may not be the best political decision in her race against Republican challenger Kelly Tshibaka. Murkowski, who was given her Senate seat by her father 21 years ago, announced Friday she would vote for Democrat Peltola over Republican challenger Sarah Palin to win support from Democrats. Alaska’s ranked choice voting system allows cross-party voting, which ultimately affords Democrat voters the opportunity to vote for Murkowski on the second and third ballots.

ANCHORAGE — Speaking to a large conference room of Alaska Natives on Friday, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R) had only words of praise for Rep. Mary Peltola (D), the first Alaska Native elected to Congress, who is also up for reelection. “Mary is a woman whose heart is as grounded in Alaska as anybody you’re going to find,” Murkowski told reporters after the event, wearing a gold-colored, paisley-patterned kuspuk, common Alaska Indigenous clothing Peltola gave her last year. Asked if she would rank Peltola first on her ballot next month in Alaska’s new ranked-choice voting system, Murkowski paused. After a full...

Twenty-one-year incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) has said she will vote for Democrat House candidate Rep. Mary Peltola (D-AK) over Republican challenger former Gov. Sarah Palin. “Yeah, I am,” Murkowski responded Friday when asked by the Anchorage Daily News if she would vote for the Democrat. Alaska uses the ranked choice voting system, which ultimately affords Democrat voters the opportunity to vote for Murkowski on the second and third ballots. Murkowski’s decision to vote for a Democrat is likely intended to attract more votes down-ballot to ultimately defeat Trump-endorsed Senate Republican candidate Kelly Tshibaka, who is leading in the polls...

Democrat Mary Peltola won the special election to fill Alaska's House seat for the remainder of 2022, according to unofficial results released by the Alaska Division of Elections, thwarting former Gov. Sarah Palin's bid at a political comeback -- at least for a few months. Peltola emerged as the victor Wednesday when Alaska's Division of Elections tabulated ranked-choice ballots in the state's first use of the system.

Democratic candidate Mary Peltola left election day leading Alaska's special election for U.S. House, but the state's new ranked choice voting system may leave Republican candidate and former governor Sarah Palin the ultimate winner. As of Wednesday afternoon, with 395 of 402 precincts reporting, Peltola had earned 38.03% of first-choice vote in a race that will determine who fills Alaska's lone U.S. House seat until January, completing the term left unfinished by the death of Congressman Don Young earlier this year. Trailing Peltola, with 31.93% of first-choice votes, was Palin. Republican candidate Nick Begich III was in third with 28.56%...