Alaska Republican Don Young wins reelection

Rep. Don Young (R) will return to Congress as the representative for Alaska’s sole congressional seat after being projected to have defeated Alyse Galvin (I) for the second time in as many election cycles.

The Associated Press called the race for Young at 12:20 p.m. EST.

Young’s victory Tuesday means the 24-term congressman will continue his streak as America’s longest-serving member of Congress; Young was first elected to the seat in a 1973 special election called after the seat’s previous holder, former Rep. Nick Begich (D), was declared legally dead in a plane crash a month after defeating Young in the 1972 general election despite disappearing weeks earlier. Alaska has not voted for a Democrat for president since 1964.

He also remains the oldest member of Congress at age 87, and serves as Dean of the House of Representatives. Young’s victory over Galvin, an independent who nevertheless won the state Democratic Party’s nomination for the House, was his second after he narrowly defeated her in 2018. She remains his most successful rival in the history of his congressional tenure.