Murkowski wins the Alaskan Senate race and Palin denies his political comeback in the House of Representatives campaign

On Wednesday, more than two weeks after Election Day, contests in Alaska’s Senate, House of Representatives and Governor elections were called.

Former Alaska governor and vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin lost her recent attempt at a political comeback, losing the race for Alaska’s general district to Rep. Mary Peltola (D-AK). Peltola had previously won a special congressional election race over the summer to end the late Representative’s term. Don Young (R), who died in March. She is the first Alaska Native to serve in Congress.

“WE MADE IT!!!” Peltola said in a tweet on Wednesday she celebrates her victory. She defeated Palin by about 23,000 votes, or 54.9% to 45.1%.

In the state’s Senate race, Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski fended off her Trump-backed opponent Kelly Tshibaka to win re-election to her seat.

Centrist Murkowski, who was first elected to the Senate 20 years ago, won the rankings with 53.7% of the vote versus Tshibaka’s 46.3%.

“Thanks, Alaska,” Murkowski said in a tweet on Wednesday. “I am honored that Alaskans – of all regions, backgrounds and party affiliations – have once again trusted me to continue working with them and on their behalf in the US Senate. I look forward to continuing the important work that lies ahead.”

Eventually, Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy was declared the winner in his re-election campaign against Democrat Les Gara and independent Bill Walker. Dunleavy prevailed with more than 50% of the first election votes.

In 2020, Alaskan voters approved a move to a ranked voting system. Under the new system, the top four finishers in the state open primary advance to the general election, where voters then rank those four candidates from first through fourth choice.

Rankings were held this year for the first time in state electoral history.

After the November 8th midterm elections, Palin was the sign a petition first to overturn the leaderboard vote established by the Alaskans for Honest Government group.