Alaska's lone congressman may lose the seat he's held since 1973
Alaska may soon have a new representative for the first time in 45 years.
The state's lone congressman, Rep. Don Young (R), is the longest-serving member of Congress. He's the House Dean and has won all of his elections since 1973. But this year, poll after poll show Young's lead slipping to his independent challenger, Alyse Galvin — and the latest numbers actually put Galvin in the lead.
The most recent Alaska House poll, conducted by Ivan Moore Research from Oct. 26-29, gives Galvin a lead of one point. It didn't report a margin of error. The same pollster put Young ahead by two points in an Oct. 12-14 survey, with a margin of error of 4.4 percentage points.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
In the newer poll, a larger percentage of people (49 percent) said they would vote for Galvin than actually gave her a positive approval rating (44 percent). That may have something to do with Galvin being Young's first independent challenger running with a Democratic endorsement, Cook Political Report suggests — or that 22 percent of those surveyed said they didn't know who she was. Galvin also raised $643,000 in the third quarter to Young's $236,000, prompting Cook to move the race from "likely Republican" to "lean Republican" last week.
Still, Alaska Public Media offers a caveat. Several polls in 2008 and one in 2014 showed a Democrat would prevail, but Young still won by five points. FiveThirtyEight gives Young a two in three chance of holding onto his well-worn House seat.
-
‘My donation felt like a rejection of the day’s politics’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Trump wants a weaker dollar but economists aren’t so sureTalking Points A weaker dollar can make imports more expensive but also boost gold
-
Political cartoons for February 3Cartoons Tuesday’s political cartoons include empty seats, the worst of the worst of bunnies, and more
-
Trump sues IRS for $10B over tax record leaksSpeed Read The president is claiming ‘reputational and financial harm’ from leaks of his tax information between 2018 and 2020
-
Trump, Senate Democrats reach DHS funding dealSpeed Read The deal will fund most of the government through September and the Department of Homeland Security for two weeks
-
Fed holds rates steady, bucking Trump pressureSpeed Read The Federal Reserve voted to keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged
-
Judge slams ICE violations amid growing backlashSpeed Read ‘ICE is not a law unto itself,’ said a federal judge after the agency violated at least 96 court orders
-
Rep. Ilhan Omar attacked with unknown liquidSpeed Read This ‘small agitator isn’t going to intimidate me from doing my work’
-
Democrats pledge Noem impeachment if not firedSpeed Read Trump is publicly defending the Homeland Security secretary
-
The billionaires’ wealth tax: a catastrophe for California?Talking Point Peter Thiel and Larry Page preparing to change state residency
-
Hegseth moves to demote Sen. Kelly over videospeed read Retired Navy fighter pilot Mark Kelly appeared in a video reminding military service members that they can ‘refuse illegal orders’
