Sen. Mark Begich finally conceded that he lost the election this week, but for now, until Jan. 3, he’s still a U.S. senator, and he’s back in Washington.
“Very proud of the folks that worked on my campaign,” Begich said. “Unbelievable honor to serve Alaska and be able to do the work that I’ve done the last six years. But we are here today, and business has to go on.”
Begich’s Alaska priorities for the lame duck include passing the Coast Guard bill, which calls for expanded activities in the Arctic and a land trade at Port Clarence aimed at building a deep-water Arctic port.
National Journal and other publications have speculated he’s plotting to run against Alaska Congressman Don Young in the future, or maybe against Sen. Lisa Murkowski. Begich isn’t saying.
“We’ll let them speculate and for now I’m just going to re-evaluate and see what I want to do but also I know I’m going to continue to contribute back to the community of Alaska in many ways that I’ve done, in and out of politics,” he said. “I’m going to continue that.”
Begich says he’s not ruling out a return to the Capitol some day.
Liz Ruskin is the Washington, D.C., correspondent at Alaska Public Media. Reach her atlruskin@alaskapublic.org. Read more about Lizhere.
