Bankruptcy for Sarah Palin: Democrat Peltola takes congressional seat in Alaska EU: 240,000 people die prematurely from bad air

The broadcasters CNN and ABC report this on Wednesday evening (local time) on the basis of vote counts. The 49-year-old Peltola already caused a stir when she defeated Palin in August in the midterm elections for the House of Representatives. The death of longtime Republican congressman Don Young left the seat vacant, leading to the unscheduled election at the time.

However, in the congressional elections about two weeks ago, Peltola had to run again because the seat could be voted on as usual. During, among other things, the so-called midterms, the entire House of Representatives was re-elected. The big question was whether Peltola would prevail again a few months later – she took on Palin and businessman Nick Begich again. Since no one obtained an absolute majority in the count on election day, the result of the election was only clarified with a delay.

Peltola is the first woman and first Native American to represent Alaska in the House of Representatives — and was the first Democrat to represent the state in the chamber on the special summer ballot in half a century.

The renewed defeat, however, is a bitter disappointment to Palin, who served as governor of Alaska from 2006 to 2009 and had achieved some notoriety as a former icon of the radically conservative and populist Tea Party movement and as a Republican vice presidential nominee.

The result in Alaska does not change the majority in the House of Representatives. The Republicans won a narrow majority there in the US midterm elections and will be in charge there from early January. (sda/dpa)