Palin and Begic lost to Democrat Mary Peltola in a special U.S. House election last week to fill the remainder of the term of Rep. Don Young, who died in March. Peltola was announced as the winner of the special election after a process of elimination in Alaska’s new ranked-choice voting system pushed her over the 50 percent threshold needed to secure victory. All three candidates are back on the ballot in November for a full two-year term. Alaska’s primary system allows the top four vote-getters to be on the ballot, so independent Chris Bye will also be on the November ballot.
Palin said Monday that “splitting the Republican vote” is the only reason a Democrat from Alaska is headed to Congress for the first time in nearly 50 years. Alaska Republican U.S. House candidate Sarah Palin holds a press conference in Wasilla, Alaska, Monday, Sept. 5, 2022, where she called on fellow Republican Nick Begich to drop out of the race. Mark Thiessen/AP “It’s time for the GOP to come together, we need to come together behind my nomination and starting today with Nick Begich withdrawing from this race,” Palin said at a news conference in Wasilla. She said her opponent “needs to swallow some pride” and hit the campaign trail for her support. Begić responded Monday by saying he will travel to Alaska and tell voters this election is a choice between him and Peltola. “We are confident that we are on a positive trajectory to win in November,” Begić said in a statement. Monday was the deadline for candidates to withdraw from the November general election. An initial tally of the August 16 special election had Peltola leading the field with nearly 40% of the vote. Palin was second with 30.9% while Republican businessman Nick Begich came in third with 26.2%. On August 31, the Alaska Department of Elections presented the final results during a public live stream. Peltoa won with 51.47% support after Begić’s votes were redistributed to his electorate’s second candidate. According to Alaska election officials, 15,445 of Begich’s voters listed Peltola as their second choice while 27,042 listed Palin as their second choice. Despite those votes, the final tally showed Peltola with 91,206 votes to Palin’s 85,987. Begich said “the ranked-choice poll showed that Palin simply does not have enough support from Alaskans to win the election, and her performance in the special was embarrassing as a former governor and vice presidential candidate.” This is Palin’s first campaign since resigning as governor of Alaska in 2009. She is backed by former President Donald Trump, who held a rally in Alaska to support her in July. Palin and Begich have been attacking each other for months. With both remaining in the November election race, the attacks are likely to increase. On Monday, Palin called Begich a “loser” and said it “wouldn’t make sense” for her to drop out of the race because she finished ahead of him in the special election. He said that if Begich stays in the race “you will be able to see us not only talking but walking and walking that we haven’t started the race yet.” Aaron Navarro contributed to this report.

Musadik Bidar

CBS News reporter covering the intersection of politics and technology.