Former President Donald Trump endorsed Republican House candidate Nick Begich in his race against vulnerable Rep. Mary Peltola (D-AK) after his preferred candidate dropped out after the primary.
“America First Patriot Nick Begich won a primary against a Strong and Respected Candidate in Alaska, a State I love won by large margins in 2016 and 2020,” Trump wrote in a post to Truth Social on Tuesday night. “That Candidate has now withdrawn in favor of Nick, so this time, for the first time in years, we will have a REPUBLICAN against a Democrat – The Republican, Nick Begich, is outstanding, and he will win!”
Trump endorsed Alaska Republican Nick Begich tonight in his House race against vulnerable Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola
Notable: Trump had endorsed Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom in the jungle primary, but she dropped out after she came in third behind Begich pic.twitter.com/l0Jszt56mX
— Rachel Schilke (@rachel_schilke) September 18, 2024
Begich placed second in the primaries held last month, with Republican Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom receiving third and Peltola taking first place. Begich had pledged to withdraw from the race should he have received third place, but Dahlstrom, who had the endorsement from Trump and national Republicans, did not.
Dahlstrom withdrew from the race on Aug. 23, giving Begich the opportunity to consolidate the GOP vote — a contrast from 2022, when Republicans were split between former Gov. Sarah Palin and Begich. The split GOP vote, combined with Alaska’s ranked choice voting system, allowed Peltola to sail to victory and become the first Democrat to represent the state’s lone House seat in 50 years.
Begich and Peltola, as well as Democratic candidate Eric Hafner and Alaskan Independence Party challenger John Wayne Howe, will appear on the November ballot. Under ranked choice voting, voters rank the candidates in order of preference rather than choosing a single candidate. If one candidate receives more than 50% of the first-choice vote count in the initial count, that candidate wins. If not, the votes will be reallocated based on those eliminated.
The Alaska Supreme Court affirmed Hafner’s candidacy last week in a split 4-1 vote. Hafner finished sixth place but advanced to the general election after Dahlstrom and Republican Matthew Salisbury, who placed fifth, withdrew from the race.
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The Democratic Party had sued against Hafner’s placement on the ballot, arguing that state law prohibited the elections division from replacing two withdrawn candidates and that Hafner was ineligible because he is serving a 20-year prison sentence in New York for threatening public officials in New Jersey. Hafner is not scheduled for release until 2036, and the party argued he will not be an inhabitant of Alaska when elected or be able to serve out a term in Washington, D.C.
“Begich came in a distant second to U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola in the August primary and clearly knows he has a snowball’s chance in hell of winning,” Alaska Democrats Executive Director Lindsay Kavanaugh said in a statement reacting to the state Supreme Court ruling. “His dirty tactics don’t change that fact he’s a longshot.”
