Sarah Palin loses bid for political comeback in Congress - Financial Times

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Sarah Palin has failed in her attempt at an audacious political comeback after losing a special election for Alaska’s only seat in the House of Representatives to Democrat Mary Peltola.

Peltola beat Palin, a Republican, by 51 per cent to 49 per cent in an election to fill a seat left vacant by the death of longtime representative Don Young, according to results released by Alaska on Wednesday.

Peltola will hold the seat for only about three months before having to contest it again in the midterm elections. But her victory is a blow for Palin — one of the most recognisable figures on the right of the Republican party — as well as another sign that the Democrats may fare better in November than many expected.

Palin declared her candidacy for the open congressional seat this year, following 13 years out of elected office. She first burst on to the national and international political stage in 2008, when, while serving as Alaska’s governor, she was chosen as John McCain’s vice-presidential running mate. McCain lost that year’s presidential election, and Palin was blamed for having helped tarnish his reputation as a centrist.

She was widely mocked during the 2008 campaign for statements such as telling an interviewer that she had an insight into Russian politics because “you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska”. McCain later said his choice of running mate had been “a mistake”.

Palin’s candidacy had also heralded the Republican party’s broader shift to the right. In recent years, she has been a vociferous champion of Donald Trump, who supported her during the campaign, calling her a “wonderful patriot”. Palin resigned as Alaska’s governor in 2009 after a series of ethics scandals.

Many factors had pointed in Palin’s favour in the congressional race. She spent four times as much as her Democratic rival in a state that Trump won in 2020 by 10 percentage points. She had huge national name recognition and was enthusiastically endorsed by Trump.

But Peltola, who will become the first Native Alaskan to serve in Congress, was able to win with a campaign that focused heavily on her pro-choice and pro-union positions.

The result comes a week after Democratic candidate Pat Ryan won an unexpected victory in a separate special congressional election in a New York district widely seen as a toss-up after a campaign focusing on abortion rights.

Democrats across the country have enjoyed a surge in donations and support after the US Supreme Court this year overturned Roe vs Wade, which established constitutional protections for abortion.

The party had looked set for a historic defeat in November’s midterms earlier this year. But recent polls suggest they might hold on to power in the Senate and even the House, boosted by legislative successes by President Joe Biden, the divisive return of Trump to the national political stage and the renewed prominence of the right over abortion rights.

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Sarah Palin loses bid for political comeback in Congress - Financial Times
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