This week, the day after a full moon, lunar eclipse, and even a showing of aurora borealis, Alaskans went to the polls to rank their choices for the US House of Representatives. By Wednesday morning, Congresswoman Mary Peltola, the incumbent Democrat, was leading Alaska’s US House race by a wide margin in a red state that hasn’t elected a Democratic presidential nominee since 1964.
Peltola had already garnered 47% of first-choice votes. Her opponents — former Alaskan governor Sarah Palin and Nick Begich, both Republicans — placed at 27% and 24%, respectively. Mail-in ballots are still being counted in the 49th State, and if Mary Peltola reaches 50% of the vote, she automatically wins reelection. If that doesn’t happen, she will have to wait until November 23rd, when tabulation of ranked-choice ballots are finalized. As of Friday morning, Peltola is at 47.3% (and Palin has dropped a little lower, to 26.6%.)
