Sarah Palin loses to Nancy Peltola in Alaska’s ranked-choice special election for Congress

Sarah Palin has lost her comeback bid for Congress for now, but will have a second shot in the November general election.

The former Republican vice presidential candidate lost to upstart Democrat Nancy Peltola when Alaska tabulated the ranked-choice votes from their special election battle.

Peltola won 51.5% of the votes compared to 48.5% for Palin after third-place candidate Nick Begich was eliminated and the second-place votes of those who voted for him were redistributed.

[ Alaska to determine if Sarah Palin or upstart Democrat Mary Peltola won special election for Congress ]

President Biden called Peltola to congratulate her on the win, the latest in a string of victories for Democrats.

“He looks forward to working with her to lower costs for working families in Alaska,” the White House said in a statement.

The result was something of an upset even though Peltola held a significant 9%-age point edge over Palin after the first-place ballots were counted.

Begich, a Republican who shares the last name of an uncle who is a prominent Alaska Democrat, feuded bitterly with Palin.

That GOP split opened the door for Peltola to become the first Native Alaskan to represent the Last Frontier in Congress.

Peltola will serve out the final few months of the term of Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), who died in the spring after nearly five decades in office.

All three top candidates will clash in a rematch in November after they finished in the top spots in the state’s top four all-party primary.

[ Alaska poised to crown winner of ranked-choice special election ]

It’s anyone’s guess who has the edge, although the well-regarded Cook Political Report now rates the race a toss-up, a dramatic shift in the Democrats’ favor now that Peltola will be the incumbent.

Begich, who has little of Palin’s political baggage, still believes he has a good chance to win in November. He suggests he would have overtaken Peltola in the final ranked-choice tally if he had beaten Palin for second place.

Regardless of the oddities, Peltola’s win in the staunchly Republican state marks another in a summer-long string of wins for Democrats in special elections, which are considered bellwethers of the national political climate.

Peltola also strongly emphasized her support for abortion rights, a blockbuster issue for Democrats since the conservative Supreme Court killed a woman’s right to choose by overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade decision.