- Mary Peltola won 51.5% of the vote over Palin, who received 48.5%.
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| Former Governor Sarah Palin, in a file image. |
Surprise in Alaska: Republican Sarah Palin loses the primaries to return to Congress
The controversial former US Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin lost her bid to return to active politics as a Republican candidate for the House of Representatives from Alaska and fell behind the Democratic candidate, who will occupy that seat in Congress.
According to projections by the major US media, Democrat Mary Peltola beat Palin with 51.5% of the vote, while the Republican won 48.5%.
This is a great surprise in a conservative-leaning state like Alaska, in which Palin was the candidate with the highest public profile for her former candidacy, in addition to having served as governor of the state and having the support of former President Donald Trump (2017 -2021).
Alaska uses a ranked-choice voting system, and in the initial count, the dispute centered on three candidates: Peltola, Palin, and another Republican, Nick Begich. In the second count, Begich's option already ruled out, who had been third, Peltola prevailed over Palin by counting, in addition to the first options of the voters, their second preferences.
Peltola will be the first Democrat to hold a seat held for the past 49 years by Republican Don Young, who died in March.
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Lisa Murkowski
Also in Alaska, Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski, the only one who in 2021 voted in favor of convicting Trump in his impeachment trial, came out on top in the primary elections, thus keeping open the possibility of continuing in office.
According to the projections of the main American media, Murkowski was in the first position, ahead of the candidate supported by Trump, also Republican Kelly Tshibaka, and approximately twenty other candidates.
Special electoral system
Alaska uses a special electoral system in which candidates from all parties attend the primaries (on Tuesday there were both Republicans and Democrats) and the first four classifieds are those who will face each other in the general election in November.
Judging by the areas where Murkowski garnered most of his votes, several traditionally Democratic voters would have changed parties this time and would have supported the current senator, despite belonging to the Republican Party.
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