In a by-election for the vacant US congressional seat for the state of Alaska, the Democrats surprisingly prevailed. Her candidate Mary Peltola won on Wednesday (local time), leaving prominent Republican Sarah Palin behind, among others. Peltola will serve in the remaining months of the late Republican Congressman Don Young’s term in the House of Representatives in Washington. Sparsely populated Alaska has just one seat in the Congress Chamber, which Young held for 49 years before he died in March.
Peltola comes from the Yup’ik tribe and will become the first woman to represent her home state of Alaska as a congresswoman in Washington. The 49-year-old is also the first member of the Democrats to hold the office since 1972.
Back then, a plane carrying Congressman Nick Begich on board went missing in Alaska while he was running for re-election there; he was later pronounced dead. Then, in 1973, Alaskan voters sent Republican Young to Washington.
During the election campaign, Peltola recommended herself as a political bridge builder, while her two Republican opponents, Palin and Begich’s grandson, who also goes by the first name Nick, sometimes attacked each other. Palin, who is supported by former President Donald Trump, also criticized a new electoral system that the people of Alaska decided on in a referendum.
The former vice presidential candidate was hoping for a political comeback in the state where she was once governor. Peltola, Palin and Begich are also running in the November congressional elections.