
No matter what people say about the political contest taking place in Alaska – and people have plenty to say – there is one thing about which they all agree: that the race for the sole congressional seat will be the most open in half a century.
The most obvious reason for this is that the person who held the seat for 49 years, Republican Don Young, who was first elected in 1973, died in March. It was his death at the age of 88 that triggered the special election to replace him.