Former Alaska governor, former vice presidential candidate and former reality TV personality Sarah Palin added her well-publicized name to the list of four dozen candidates seeking to fill Alaska’s only seat in the U.S. House, hoping to take over for Rep. Don Young, who died last month.
“Public service is a calling,” Palin said in a statement on social media.
Palin, a Republican, quit as governor of Alaska in 2009 after she and presidential running mate Arizona Sen. John McCain lost the 2008 election to Democrat Barack Obama and Joe Biden. Palin resigned not even halfway through her term in Alaska, asserting that ethics complaints against her were frivolous and that she could make a bigger difference outside the governor’s office.
Former President Donald Trump endorsed Palin on Sunday.
Along with Palin, the field to replace Young includes current and former state legislators and a North Pole city council member named Santa Claus. Filing closed last Friday for the special primary election June 11 to temporarily fill the seat until after the general election in November.
Young, a Republican, had held Alaska’s House seat since 1973 and was seeking reelection at the time of his death at age 88.
Wrangell’s Otto Florschutz is among the candidates that numbered 51 at the filing deadline last Friday but shrunk to 48 after three candidates dropped out on Monday.
“My chances are between slim and none,” Florschutz said Friday. His strong pro-life beliefs prompted him to add his name to the ballot, concerned that perhaps only pro-choice candidates would advance past the crowded primary, he said.
Florschutz, a commercial fisherman, has been elected three times to the Wrangell Port Commission.
Others in the flurry of filings before Friday’s deadline were Anchorage State Sen. Josh Revak and Tara Sweeney, who were statewide co-chairs of Young’s reelection campaign.
Sweeney was assistant secretary of Indian Affairs with the U.S. Department of Interior under the Trump administration.
The top four vote-getters in the June 11 special primary — which will be held by mail — will advance to an Aug. 16 special election in which ranked choice voting will be used, a new elections system approved by voters in 2020.
The winner will serve the remainder of Young’s term, which expires in January.
The Aug. 16 special election for Young’s seat will coincide with the regular primary for the November election. The winner in November will hold the seat for a full two-year term.
Others who filed include Democratic Fairbanks State Rep. Adam Wool; independent Al Gross, an orthopedic surgeon who unsuccessfully ran for U.S. Senate in 2020; and Emil Notti, a Democrat who narrowly lost the 1973 congressional election to Young.
Former state legislators Andrew Halcro, of Anchorage, and Mary Sattler Peltola, who represented Bethel, are also running.
The field already included Republican Nick Begich, who announced plans to run for U.S. House last fall; Democrat Christopher Constant, an Anchorage Assembly member; and John Coghill, a Republican former state senator from Nenana.
Begich, an early challenger to Young, said he sees the Matanuska-Susitna region, a hotbed of conservatism that includes Palin’s hometown of Wasilla, as one of his strongest areas of the state.
Begich said there are a “lot of opportunistic candidates … that have chosen to get in. I think that the entry of Gov. Palin is completely consistent with that sort of spirit of opportunism that we’re seeing right now.”
Revak, Palin, Begich, Constant, Gross and Peltola are among those who have filed to run for both the temporary seat and the full two-year term. Sweeney in a statement said she planned to run in both.
Gross’ campaign has announced a leadership team that includes several Republicans and independents, as well as Democrats, including former Gov. Tony Knowles.
Wool said he has privately discussed a run for Congress for years. He said earlier in the day Friday that he looked at the candidates running in the special primary and “wasn’t that impressed.” He added, “Many of them have never won an election.”
Halcro, who has a podcast where he talks politics, lost to Palin in the 2006 gubernatorial general election. He said he plans to play up his intent to only run to fill the remainder of Young’s term, allowing him to focus on congressional work, not the next campaign. He is running as an independent.
Peltola, a Democrat, said Alaska is diverse and that “it’s important to me that the field of candidates also reflects Alaska’s diversity.” Peltola is Yup’ik Eskimo.
Meanwhile, a man who years ago legally changed his name to Santa Claus and serves on the North Pole city council filed for the special primary. Claus, who said he has a “strong affinity” for Bernie Sanders, is running as an independent.
He said he is not soliciting or raising money. He said the new elections process “gives people like me an opportunity, without having to deal with parties, to throw our hat in the ring.”
“I do have name recognition,” he said with a laugh.
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