Will Palin be able to hold a seat in the US Congress?
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(CNN) --
Democrat Mary Peltola won the special election to hold an Alaska House seat for the remainder of 2022, according to unofficial results released by the Alaska Division of Elections, thwarting the former governor's bid. Sarah Palin for a political comeback, at least for a few months.
Sarah Palin
Peltola emerged as the victor Wednesday when the Alaska Division of Elections tabulated the election ballots in order of preference in the state's first use of the system.
With her victory, the former state legislator will flip the seat held for nearly half a century by the late Republican Rep. Don Young, and become the first Alaskan native in Congress.
Young's race for the seat had been viewed nationally through the lens of Palin's attempted political comeback, who in 2008 became the Republican vice-presidential nominee and, after losing, in 2009 resigned midway through the election. her only term as governor.
Palin had been endorsed by former President Donald Trump.
He called phone rallies for her campaign and appeared at an event in Alaska in July to endorse Palin and other Republican candidates he has endorsed in this year's races.
Palin had not run for office since leaving the governor's office.
But he will get another shot at the House race: Palin and Peltola are also among those running for a full term in a separate election in November.
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Palin criticized ranked-choice voting in a statement after the results were released Wednesday, calling it a "crazy, convoluted and confusing new system."
"While we are disappointed with this result, Alaskans know that I am the last to walk away. Instead, I am going back to the fray. Hopefully Alaskans will learn from this voting system mistake and correct it soon." next election, let's work even harder to send a conservative from America First to Washington in November," he said.
The special election process began when a field of 48 candidates, including Santa Claus, a North Pole councilman and supporter of Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, was whittled down to four finalists in a June primary in which candidates from all parties they competed together on a ticket.
Mary Petola
Palin, Peltola, Nick Begich III, a Republican businessman from the state's most famous Democratic political family, and independent Al Gross were the four who advanced.
But shortly after the primary, Gross dropped out of the race, a move that cemented Democratic support behind Peltola.
Peltola, meanwhile, sought to capitalize on the Supreme Court decision that ended federal abortion-rights protections, campaigning as a pro-choice and pro-union candidate with a deep connection to issues like fishing that are closely tied to the identity and economy of Alaska.
Peltola's term in the state legislature coincided with Palin's governorship, and the two displayed a warm relationship during the election campaign.
Peltola also has connections to Young's family: His father taught school with Young before he was elected to Congress.
And Peltola once spent Thanksgiving with Young's family in the Washington area.
The Alaska Division of Elections conducted its rank-order election calculation at 8 pm ET on Wednesday, more than two weeks after Election Day.
Elections in Alaska are conducted primarily by mail, and because some votes come from remote regions disconnected from highway systems, the state allows an additional 10 days for ballots to arrive and be counted.
The state's 2020 voters approved a measure to adopt a ranked-choice voting system: In open primaries that include candidates from all parties, voters cast a ballot for their first choice and the top four get votes advance.
Then, in the general election, voters rank those four candidates from first to fourth.
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