Congressman Don Young, the longest currently serving member of the House of Representatives and the longest-serving Republican in House history, today filed for re-election.
Young turned 86 this month. If re-elected in 2020, it would be his twenty-fifth term.
Young arrived at the Division of Elections office in Anchorage with his wife, Anne Garland Walton.
While submitting his paperwork, Young said he was filing to make it clear he is running once again.
“Unless you file you always have the rumors going around, ‘he’s not running again,’ and I’m not going to tolerate rumors about me not running,” Young said. “I’m going to be running hard in this campaign.”
Young noted many members of Congress “are from urbanized areas which have little knowledge of what faces Alaska — the diversity, the size, the culture, the topography.”
“I want to be there, and try to make sure Alaska is not abused,” Young said, citing “overzealous government agencies or interest groups.”
In the 2018 election, Young beat Independent challenger Alyse Galvin with 53 percent of the vote.
Elizabeth Harball is a reporter with Alaska's Energy Desk, covering Alaska’s oil and gas industry and environmental policy. She is a contributor to the Energy Desk’s Midnight Oil podcast series. Before moving to Alaska in 2016, Harball worked at E&E News in Washington, D.C., where she covered federal and state climate change policy. Originally from Kalispell, Montana, Harball is a graduate of Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
