Alaska is set to hold a special election for the vacancy left by Congressman Don Young, who died in August. The race has drawn several candidates but one candidate stands out above all others: 24-year-old Democratic Socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She’s the youngest woman ever elected to Congress and was recently profiled on “60 Minutes.”
Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy has declared that a special primary election would be held on June 11 to replace the congressional seat left empty by Don Young’s death. A single congressional district encompasses the whole state of Alaska. The news was released on March 22.
According to the Associated Press, the general election will be held on August 16. According to the news agency, the winner would complete Young’s tenure until January 2023, when the next legislative term begins.
On the same day, there will be a primary and a general election.
According to CBS News, a primary election for the next two-year congressional term will be place concurrently with the special general election on August 16.
This would be the first time Alaska had an open primary followed by a general election using the ranked-choice voting method, according to the news site.
According to KINY, the statewide primary election will be held by mail, with the top four victors moving on to the main election. According to CBS News, voters in the main election will rank the four candidates in order of choice.
The Alaska Democratic Party’s executive director, Lindsay Kavanaugh, told the Anchorage Daily News that there was “huge uncertainty” regarding the ranked-choice method among the general population.
Election authorities told KINY that the deadline for would-be members of Congress to announce their candidacies was April 1.
According to the Associated Press, Governor Mike Dunleavy has ruled out a run, but two contenders have emerged: Democrat Christopher Constant and Republican Nick Begich.
According to The Hill, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has indicated interest in replacing Young’s congressional seat. Palin was cited by the news site as stating she would accept the position “in a heartbeat” if asked.
Palin had hinted that she would not begin campaigning for the seat, at least not immediately, while declaring she would be “humbled and honored” to serve in Congress.
He has his knife at the ready.
Young was the dean of the House of Representatives at the time of his death, and the longest-serving member of Congress, according to The Washington Post.
According to the newspaper, he was first elected to Congress in 1973.
According to the newspaper, the 88-year-old former tugboat captain claimed to have carried a knife as a weapon for 70 years. Young admitted to the newspaper that he did draw a knife on former House Speaker John Boehner, but that the blade was not exposed. In his book “On the House,” Boehner describes the episode.
Young gave his Democrat colleague Ruben Gallego his support in a Tweet after a Russian official publicly threatened to kidnap him, according to Politico. Young said, “I’m the only Member of Congress with the abilities, training, and experience to bring a knife to a gunfight.”
Young had “cultivated the image of a tough frontiersman with outsize authority,” according to Robert McFadden of The New York Times. Young laughed at climate change, advocated for marijuana legalization, opposed legalized abortion unless to save a woman’s life, and backed Alaska’s native governments, according to McFadden.
‘A serious lawmaker,’ says the author.
Young had been a “serious politician,” according to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who had regularly brought “people together to accomplish the people’s job.” According to the Associated Press, she said that Young will be laid to rest in the Capitol on March 29.
DISCLAIMER: ALL RIGHTS ARE RESERVED
