Begich denies Palin’s repeated call for him to drop out of Alaska congressional race

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin on Monday repeated calls for fellow Republican Nick Begich to withdraw from the race for Alaska’s hotly contested at-large congressional seat.

Begich defied Palin’s requests, remaining in the race through Monday night’s deadline to withdraw and setting up for another showdown between Palin, Begich and Democratic Rep.-elect Mary Peltola in the November general election.

“Only a Democrat sympathizer would selfishly stay in this race, after getting licked three times in a row by his GOP opponent, only to enable a Democrat to hold the Alaskan people’s seat in the U.S. House of Representatives,” Palin said at a press conference on Monday.

The 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee had previously called on Begich to drop out, accusing him of splitting the GOP vote after both Republicans lost to Peltola in the special election to fill the late Rep. Don Young’s seat in the House.

“His ego-driven insistence on staying in Alaska’s congressional race after repeatedly failing to garner a majority of Republican votes, while I have consistently won the vote, has just cost Republicans a seat in Congress,” Palin said in a press release on Thursday.

Begich fired back in a statement to The Hill, calling Palin’s performance in the special election “embarrassing” and claiming she “simply doesn’t have enough support from Alaskans to win an election.”

“I will continue traveling the state, making the case that this election is about a choice between Mary Peltola and Nick Begich,” Begich said. “We are confident that we are on a positive trajectory to win in November.”

Updated: 1:48 p.m.