Alaska's lone congressman may lose the seat he's held since 1973

(Image credit: Facebook/RepDonYoung)

published 2 November 2018

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.

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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.

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Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.

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