| | | | |  | | By Brakkton Booker | With help from Rishika Dugyala and Teresa Wiltz
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POLITICO Illustration/Photo courtesy of Mary Peltola | What up, Recast family! The world is mourning the loss of two cultural icons: Her majesty, Queen Elizabeth, Britain's longest serving monarch, 96, and legendary broadcaster Bernard Shaw, CNN's first chief anchor, who was 82. Also a same-sex marriage bill is facing the threat of a GOP filibuster. First though we focus on the historic election in Alaska. Congresswoman-elect Mary Peltola did what many thought was the unthinkable. She defeated a pair of Republican challengers – a former governor with near universal name recognition and another who is part of a political dynasty – to become the first Democrat in almost 50 years to become Alaska's lone U.S. representative. She also made history. An Alaska Yupik, Peltola will be the first Indigenous person to represent the state when she's sworn in later this month. Her victory though is not without controversy. Republicans, including those thought to have eyes on a White House run in 2024, railed against the election results, characterizing Alaska's newly implemented ranked-choice voting as " a scam to rig elections " and a process that " disenfranchises voters." There is no evidence to back this up. More voters cast ballots for Sarah Palin, the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee and for Nick Begich III combined, according to results from Alaska's board of elections . But the top vote-getter of the three was Peltola. She also won enough second-choice votes from Begich's supporters once he was eliminated. This though was a special election – one to fill the remaining months of the term of Rep. Don Young, who held the seat since 1973. He was 88 when he died in March. There will be a do-over in November, with Palin, Begich and Peltola all vying for a full two-year term. With Republicans losing a seat that had been safely in their party's control for a half a century, tensions between Begich and Palin have been simmering. Palin called on Begich to drop out of the race this week. He adamantly refused. All this could bode well for Peltola, who says voters selected her because Alaskans were interested not only in change, but wanted to cool the temperature in partisan politics. We chop it up about what she plans to do with her truncated term in Congress before she has to go before voters again, Queen Elizabeth II and how inflation affects residents of Alaska ◆◆◆ This interview has been edited for length and clarity. THE RECAST: Before we get started, I wanted to get your thoughts on the biggest global news happening right now with the passing of Queen Elizabeth II. PELTOLA: Well, I just think she was one of the most formidable leaders of our time. My condolences to her family and her loved ones. I have tremendous respect for her and the stability that she has been able to bring to the people that she leads, and really the world as a world leader.
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| Every week, we sit down with diverse and influential characters who are shaking up politics. Who should we profile next? Let us know. Email us at therecast@politico.com.
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THE RECAST: It's been a little more than a week since you won your election for Alaska's at-large seat. Many have been describing your win as "an upset." Is that a fair characterization? Because it's not like you came out of nowhere. You've held other elective offices before.
PELTOLA: That's true. I represented my home region of western Alaska for 10 years in the state Legislature in the Statehouse. And I am a lifelong Alaskan. Since I left state office, I have been on my City Council, I've been a tribal court judge, I've worked for an inter-tribal fish commission. I am a lifelong Alaskan. And I had the pleasure of serving with Gov. Sarah Palin during her two years in office, those coincided with my last two years in the Statehouse. But compared to an international celebrity, I do think that it caught folks outside of Alaska by great surprise.
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Mary Peltola will be the first Alaska Native in Congress when she's sworn in this month. | Courtesy of Mary Peltola | THE RECAST: But it sounds like you were not surprised. Was it because you were sensing something on the ground in Alaska that gave you confidence that you would have success in the race? PELTOLA: Well, I'm very encouraged, and I was very optimistic. We have a new system of voting. The three of us who were in the final round of the special election, we had come out of a field of 48 candidates. And I worked very, very hard. I was on the phone two or three hours a day reaching out to Alaskans across the state. We had a number of events that we hosted to connect with as many voters as I possibly could. I did have a lot of connections that I had made over the 10 years in the Statehouse. I developed a reputation over the years that I served in Juneau of being very easy to work with, able to work with anyone in the building— regardless of party. And I had worked under three different governors – Tony Knowles (D), Frank Murkowski (R) and Sarah Palin (R). And you know, Alaska is a small state. Most of the people who are in leadership positions have been here many decades and Alaskans tend to have a long memory. So I was not shocked at the outcome of our race.
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Peltola beat former Republican Gov. Sarah Palin in one of the reddest states in the nation. | Courtesy of Mary Peltola | THE RECAST: In the days since you won your election, we're seeing some Republicans, both in and outside of Alaska, come out against ranked-choice voting. Do you attribute that to those two Republican candidates you were facing who ultimately lost? And are you concerned at all that there's going to be a push to dismantle the ranked-choice voting in Alaska in future elections? PELTOLA: Change is always hard. Especially cultural change. And this is a big shift in our culture of voting and elections.
|  | In my experience with closed partisan primaries, you end up with elected officials who won because they were the most extreme candidates on the slate. In a closed primary, we also end up with leaders who only know how to communicate with their base. When you're an elected person, you have to represent all of your constituents, not just your base. I am very much looking forward to exploring any opportunity we have as an electorate to get away from extreme candidates, extreme elected officials, folks who aren't willing to negotiate, who aren't interested in compromise or consensus building, because that's really what leadership is about. THE RECAST: You will soon be sworn in as the newest member of Congress, but are still campaigning for a full-two year term in November. What are you hoping to accomplish between now and November to show voters of Alaska that they made the right choice in sending you to Congress and they should not send one of your chief rivals, either, and not one of your opponents, Nick Begich or Sarah Palin? PELTOLA: I do think it's noteworthy that Alaskan voters gave more votes to the person who was the most positive, who didn't participate in personal attacks, who used every opportunity to talk about issues and ideas and opportunities and challenges that Alaskans face.
|  | Nick Begich is the one who got the least votes. And he was very direct in his personal attacks towards Sarah. THE RECAST: And do you feel like this will ultimately cancel the other out in the fall? In the special, folks who voted for Mr. Begich either didn't put down a second choice or put you as a second choice. PELTOLA: Yeah, a high percentage of voters didn't rank a second choice. And then I received more second-choice votes than Sarah did. And, again, it's because I really am interested in the public policy discussion. Nick does a fair job of keeping his comments to public policy discussion. But unfortunately, he also peppered in a lot of personal attacks, which I just don't think resonate well with voters.
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Peltola and Palin are still on the ballot in November, for the next full House term. | Courtesy of Mary Peltola | THE RECAST: Alaska is one of the most expensive places to live in the U.S. And with inflation being at a 40-year high, things have gotten tighter for many Alaskans. The president recently signed into law the Inflation Reduction Act, which aims to bring down some high cost of goods, but also includes some environmental provisions. Is that a bill you would have voted for? PELTOLA: I would have voted for the Inflation Reduction Act, certainly. Inflation is a huge issue for all Americans, and certainly Alaskans. We pay the highest prices for our goods and our commodities. And we pay the highest prices for gas and oil, despite being an oil producing state. All of that just created a situation where Alaskans are going even further backwards every month. Rent prices are going up, we're looking at home heating costs being one and a half to two times what we paid last year. So that is going to present a situation for a lot of Alaskan households where their heating, utility cost is more than their mortgage, or more than their rent payments. So any and all efforts to reduce inflation, I think any effort we can make to drive down our deficit is a very good effort.
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A view of the downtown skyline with mountains in the rear in July in Anchorage, Alaska. | Justin Sullivan/Getty Images | THE RECAST: To be fair though, these high inflation numbers are happening on Biden's watch right? And Democrats – your own party – are in control of Washington. Do you see these as potential headwinds for your own reelection in a few weeks? PELTOLA: Good question. Folks who do not want to see me get elected have been portraying me as part of the cause of this global situation. This doesn't just happen within one or two years. And this doesn't happen in isolation. That foreign aggression we've seen Russia display to Ukraine had a tremendous impact on inflation. The Covid restrictions that we've been experiencing, the setbacks that we've seen because of this global health pandemic and the supply chain logistic effects — those contributed greatly to inflation and the situation we're in now. You can't just attribute that to the person who's in office or the person who's seeking office. These are long-term outcomes from a series of events. ◆◆◆ We made it to Fri-yay y'all! And for most of us it was a shortened week, but it sure didn't feel that way. We've got some quick pop news items, then some fun to kick-start your weekend. Same-Sex Marriage Bill Uncertainty - It attracted more than 50 House Republicans, but whether or not 10 GOP Senators will support the bill is an unanswered question. POLITICO's Marianne LeVine breaks it down. WATCH: The Obama's White House portrait unveiling.
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| Will King Charles III be too Political for America? With the passing of the Queen, her son Charles inherits the throne. But will the new king's penchant for political controversy be too much for observers of the monarchy on this side of the pond ? Ella Creamer , a frequent contributor to The Recast, explores. Queen Latifah and Chris Bridges—aka Ludacris—star as a sister and brother in the new thriller, "End of the Road." This NPR Tiny Desk Concert with East Atlanta emcee JID melds rap and jazz.
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| "Blonde," the new movie very very loosely based on Marilyn Monroe's life, stars Ana de Armas. Based on Joyce Carol Oates' novel, it's bound to spark some heated conversations. Hint: Don't expect a biopic. Check out this profile of oncologist/writer/classical music vocalist Siddhartha Mukherjee. His forthcoming book, "The Song of the Cell: An Exploration of Medicine and the New Human," drops next month. The women of "Wakanda Forever." Can't wait for the sequel. Dominican dembow, reggaeton's revved-up cousin, is having a moment. (See: Bad Bunny's Tití Me Preguntó.) In his new single, "Latina," Kiko El Crazy teams up with will.i.am for a dembow-flavored party jam.
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