ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Alaska Lieutenant Governor Nancy Dahlstrom, backed by former President Donald Trump, withdrew from the race for the state’s only seat in the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday after she was this week’s primaries.
Her decision made Republican Nick Begich, the runner-up, the primary challenger to Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola, who first Alaska Native in Congress.
“I entered this campaign because Alaskans deserve better representation than we received from Mary Peltola in Washington,” Dahlstrom said in a statement from her campaign team. “The best thing I can do at this time to achieve that goal is to withdraw my candidacy from the general election ballot and end my campaign.”
Peltola, Begich and Dahlstrom were the most prominent among a dozen candidates running for the seat in Alaska’s primary election. Under Alaska’s open primary system, voters were required to choose one candidate, with the four candidates with the most votes advancing to the ranked-choice general election, regardless of party affiliation.
According to the initial results, Peltola was ahead in the vote count, followed by Begich and then Dahlstrom. It was too early to predict who would finish fourth.
The general election is expected to be hotly contested, with the GOP hoping to recapture the seat that Republican U.S. Representative Don Young said For 49 years until his death in 2022. Peltola won the seat through victories in special and regular elections this year.
“Mary was so proud to receive more than 50% of the vote last Tuesday, even though many voters likely assumed she would advance to the general election without their votes,” her campaign manager Elisa Rios said in a statement, while praising the accomplishments during Peltola’s term. “We believe voters will make the same choice in November.”
Begich, who ran unsuccessfully for the seat in 2022, had the backing of several local Republican groups. Dahlstrom was endorsed by Trump and several House leaders, including Speaker Mike Johnson.
Begich congratulated Dahlstrom on his “strong campaign” in a social media post on Friday.
“Today we move forward united in the effort to replace Mary Peltola, who has proven by her alignment with the left that she is not the moderate she claimed to be,” Begich wrote.
Begich had said before the primary that he would drop out of the race if he finished behind Dahlstrom. Dahlstrom made no similar commitment, but told the Associated Press that she would speak with Begich, Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy and the chairman of the state Republican Party after the primary to analyze “who got what and what it would take to have a conservative in this seat, votes-wise.”
The National Republican Congressional Committee had endorsed Dahlstrom but said Friday that Begich – who comes from a family of prominent Alaska Democrats – was “a great choice.”
“Nancy Dahlstrom has a lifetime of service and I want to thank her for stepping into the arena this year,” committee Chairman Richard Hudson said in an emailed statement. “Her selfless decision today puts Alaskans and the team first and allows voters to unite behind a single Republican.”
Under state law, if one of the top four candidates in the primary dies, withdraws or is disqualified within 64 days of the general election, the fifth-place finisher goes on the general election ballot. As of Friday, there were 74 days until the Nov. 5 general election.
If the initial results hold, the other two candidates advancing to the general election would be little-known Republican Matthew Salisbury and Alaska Independence Party candidate John Wayne Howe, both of whom received less than 1% of the vote.
