Anchorage Young Republicans endorse Nick Begich III, criticize Don Young

By
Suzanne Downing
-
12

The Anchorage Young Republicans club has awarded its endorsement to Republican Nick Begich III for Congress.

In announcing the vote, the Anchorage Young Republicans said, “Nick Begich does not share the same political views as his [Begich Democrats] family; he is an actual conservative and aware of all the major issues facing our state and country. We strongly encourage you to make it to one of his events and question him to confirm this for yourself.”

The group’s decision was influenced by recent actions from Congressman Don Young, including:

  1. – Rep. Young’s decision to introduce and endorse Deb Haaland, a radical leftist environmentalist, to the U.S. Senate during her confirmation hearing for Secretary of the Interior: “She has been as predictably bad for Alaska resource development as her record indicated she would be,” the YRs said.
  2. – Rep. Young’s vaccine mandate for his official office and revelations that he fired a young woman on his staff who chose not to get vaccinated for Covid.
  3. – Rep. Young’s “yes” vote on the PRO Act: “This was an anti-small business & pro-union bill that was (luckily) shot down in the Senate.”
  4. – Rep. Young’s attendance record. A recent article in Roll Call reported that the congressman was absent from attending committee markup sessions for more than 19 months. “When Speaker Pelosi instituted proxy voting during the pandemic, Congressman Young signed onto the Republican lawsuit calling proxy voting unconstitutional. However, he is one of the most prolific and regular Republican users of proxy voting,” the group stated. “Nick Begich represents a new generation of leadership for our state. His views on policy more closely align with ours and he has the energy to show up for work. While we continue to respect Don Young and those who still support him, we can no longer do so in good conscience. We are proud to endorse Nick Begich and hope you will consider supporting him as well,” the group wrote.

Congressman Young has served as Alaska’s sole member of Congress since 1973, after Nick’s grandfather, who was Alaska’s congressman, disappeared in what is believed to be a plane crash over Prince Williams Sound.

Begich also gained more endorsements from elected officials. He now has 11 Republican members of the Alaska House and Senate supporting him, including two Senate members and nine House members. New endorsements have come daily, with former Alaska Republican Party Vice Chairman Frank McQueary, State Rep. Ben Carpenter, and Kenai Republican activist Jill Schaefer, Anchorage activists Monte Dyson and Jeff Garness, Karen Lasseter of Sterling, JocQuis Scoiners of Anchorage, Kathy McCollum of Wasilla, and John Wisel of Fairbanks announcing recently that they are with Nick.

12 COMMENTS

  2. Hey, a lot of old farts are supporting young Nick Begich too. It’s not just Millennials and GenXers.
    Don Young is so old he’s not even the leading edge of Baby Boomers. He’s somewhere between The Pleistocene and the Civil War.

  4. I’ll be voting for Nick, I wish the Republicans still had a primary but alas somehow Rank Choice voting was pushed through & it is Rank!

  5. He makes good points. Don’t know if I can trust that he’ll be who he says he’s gonna be. Many times I’ve seen candidates gain office then switch to left-gear.

  6. I am 59 years old. I have always voted for Don Young. Since the revelations of the last couple of years, I will never vote for him again. He is too buddy-buddy with Nancy Pelosi. He is anti-Alaskan small business. I will NEVER vote for Don Young again! I am going with Nick Begich despite how much I absolutely can’t stand his phoney, yuck yuck “I play poker in the Fur Rondevous” uncle, Mark Begich.

    • Yeah, that Mark Begich really was one oily, slippery, smarmy politician, wasn’t he?
      The kind whose almost every statement dripped dishonesty and mendacity.
      .
      Sadly, the large majority of politicians today are even more dishonest and mendacious than Mark Begich ever was, but much more arrogant, intolerant and authoritarian. Especially those on the so-called “left”, who are mostly today simply out-and-out fascists.

  7. Don, you have had a very very long run. You have had some positive steps and missteps. Thank you for your service but it’s time to step down. Do the right thing and the classy thing and step down at the end of your term.

  8. I supported Don Young from the mid 70s up until the Obama (if that’s his real name?) administration. The form letter I received from Don, defending his acceptance of an obviously bogus birth certificate, was the final nail in his political coffin. His demonstrated actions, more in tune with liberals than conservatives since then have only reaffirmed my decision to support someone more aligned with Alaska than with Washington D.C. It may take some convincing to support a “Begich” (based on family history in politics), but I’m open to any replacement to Mr. Don Young.

  9. Yeah, Nick Begich would be an excellent replacement for Young. Don has served way past his usefulness. Nick is a true conservative. Young has recently gone way off the rails.

  11. In the end this newest member of the political patron family of Alaska will dance to the tune of big spenders and party leaders such as Mitch McConnell and RNC backers. Don’t think for a second the party will not have demands. Just look at the 1.2T infrastructure bill all three DC characters signed on to. What are the chances that the RNC wanted the money for its purposes while coveting a desire to pin the spending on the Dems. Don’t settle for the lesser of two evils.

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