Nicholas Begich III is taking another run at becoming Alaska’s next member of Congress.
Begich, a 45-year-old Republican from a famous family of Democrats, announced his 2024 campaign Thursday morning and filed a statement of candidacy with federal elections regulators.
Begich also ran for U.S. House last year, with a largely self-funded campaign. In both the special and regular elections for the House, he finished third. Democrat Mary Peltola finished first and Republican Sarah Palin finished second. The ranked choice tabulations did not change that order.
He said Thursday that he has reason to believe a different outcome is possible next year.
“Last cycle, everyone will acknowledge we had one of the wildest, perhaps strangest races in the state’s history, with so many activities, and so many things happening and a gubernatorial race and a contested Senate race,” he said. “This next cycle, the House race is the only statewide race, aside from the presidential, that we have. And I think, as Alaskans, we’ll be able to spend more time digging in on candidates and positions.”
Begich used leftover campaign funds to pay himself back some of the $650,000 he put into the 2022 race. He’s using about $15,000 of it for the next run. He also has a new campaign management team, Rival Strategy Group, based in New Mexico.
He is likely to get a boost from the national GOP. The National Republican Congressional Committee has targeted Peltola and has produced multiple press releases attacking her voting record.
The Peltola campaign reported $480,000 in its 2024 campaign account at the end of the March.
Liz Ruskin is the Washington, D.C., correspondent at Alaska Public Media. Reach her at lruskin@alaskapublic.org. Read more about Liz here.
