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Democrat Mary Peltola’s win Wednesday night in the Alaska special election to replace the late GOP Rep. Don Young gave her party yet another data point to show that momentum is building in its favor in the final months before the midterm elections.
Peltola’s victory, aided by Alaska’s new ranked choice voting system, was the second time in two weeks — after Democrat Pat Ryan’s victory in New York’s 19th District — that a Democrat defied expectations to win a special election. Not only did she flip a seat in a state that favors Republicans, Peltola also continued Democrats’ streak of overperforming in the five special elections since the June Supreme Court ruling that overturned Americans’ longstanding right to an abortion.
