Nick Begich, the congressional candidate who came in third in the Nov. 8 general election in Alaska, posted his concession statement this afternoon:
“Today I’d like to thank my wife, Dharna; my son, Nicholas; and the thousands of Alaskans who supported us, volunteered their time and gave so much energy to our campaign. From traveling across this great state, listening to the challenges and hopes of Alaskans from every walk of life, and engaging in lively policy discussions with a host of other candidates and citizens with a wide variety of perspectives, it’s been an honor and a privilege to run for this office.
“Tonight, I want to offer my congratulations to Alaska’s next congressional representative — Mary Peltola. Our nation faces a number of challenges in the coming years, and our representatives will need wisdom and discernment as they work to put America on a more sound path. My message to Alaskans is to continue to be involved and engaged. We have a government that is of the people, by the people, and for the people; and as such it requires the active participation of citizens, not simply to vote, but to debate, to discuss, to be informed and to work to create the future we would all like to see.
May God Bless the people of the Great State of Alaska,” Begich concluded.
Peltola, who won over Sarah Palin with 136, 893 votes to Palin’s 112,255 votes, ended up with 54.9 % of the vote after the ranked-choice voting process.
Nick Begich has 64,392 votes after the first person, Chris Bye, was eliminated, and stood at 24.48% Palin had 69,242 votes, or 26.32%, and Peltola had 129,433 votes, or 49.20%. She needed 50%+1, so the bottom vote getter was eliminated.
Of Begich’s 69,242 first-choice ballots, 43,013 voters picked Palin second. Some 7,460 of Begich’s supporters picked Peltola second, and 13,864 voters did not pick anyone second.
That means over 62% of Begich’s voters chose Palin after Begich on the ballot. About 11.5% of Begich’s voters chose Peltola second, and over 21.5% simply didn’t pick anyone second. Palin would have needed 24,639 votes more in order to beat Peltola.
Peltola told reporters, “This is a two-year contract. And I will be happy to work for Alaskans again, as long as they’ll have me.”
There was no statement from the Palin camp as of publication time.
