Democrat Mary Peltola, who is Yup'ik, will be the first Alaska Native to serve in the US House and the first woman to hold the seat.
Mary Peltola, who most recently worked for a commission whose goal is to rebuild salmon resources on the Kuskokwim River, casts herself as a "regular" Alaskan.
(Becky Bohrer / AP)
Democrat Mary Peltola has won the special election for Alaska’s only US House seat, besting a field that included Republican Sarah Palin, who was seeking a political comeback in the state where she was once governor.
Peltola, who is Yup'ik and turned 49 on Wednesday, will become the first Alaska Native to serve in the House and the first woman to hold the seat. She will serve the remaining months of the late Republican US Republican Don Young's term. Young held the seat for 49 years before his death in March.
Peltola's victory, in Alaska's first statewide ranked-choice voting election, is a boon for Democrats coming off better-than-expected performances in special elections around the country following the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v Wade.
She will be the first Democrat to hold the seat since the late US Republican Nick Begich, who was seeking reelection in 1972 when his plane disappeared.
Begich was later declared dead and Young in 1973 was elected to the seat.
Peltola ran as a coalition builder while her two Republican opponents — Palin and Begich's grandson, also named Nick Begich — at times went after each other. Palin also railed against the ranked voting system, which was instituted by Alaska voters.
The results came 15 days after the August 16 election, in line with the deadline for state elections officials to receive absentee ballots mailed from outside the US. Ranked choice tabulations took place on Wednesday after no candidate won more than 50 percent of the first choice votes.
Wednesday's results were a disappointment for Palin, who was looking to make a political comeback 14 years after she was vaulted onto the national stage when John McCain selected her to be his running mate in the 2008 presidential election. In her run for the House seat, she had widespread name recognition and won the endorsement of former president Donald Trump.
Alaska special election results show Democrat Mary Peltola, Yup'ik, as the winner with 51.47 percent vs. 48.53 percent for Sarah Palin. That makes Peltola both the 1st woman to hold Alaska's sole Congressional seat and the 1st Alaska Native Representative to Congress.
Peltola's 'regular Alaskan' campaign
But critics questioned Palin's commitment to Alaska, citing her decision to resign as governor in July 2009, partway through her term. Palin went on to become a conservative commentator on TV and appeared in reality television programmes, among other pursuits.
Along with Peltola and Begich, Palin is among the candidates vying for a full two-year term that will be decided in the November general election.
Palin has insisted her commitment to Alaska never wavered and said ahead of the special election that she had “signed up for the long haul.”
Peltola, a former state lawmaker who most recently worked for a commission whose goal is to rebuild salmon resources on the Kuskokwim River, cast herself as a "regular" Alaskan. "I’m not a millionaire. I’m not an international celebrity," she said.
"I’m really hopeful that voters will feel like they can vote their heart and not feel pressured to vote for the candidate that they think is most 'viable,'" Peltola said before the special election. "And my hope is that we shy away from the really extreme-type candidates and politicians."
During the campaign, she emphasised her support of abortion rights and said she wanted to elevate issues of ocean productivity and food security.
Explaining Alaska's new voting system
Alaska voters in 2020 approved an election process that replaced party primaries with open primaries. Under the new system, ranked voting is used in general elections.
Under ranked voting, ballots are counted in rounds. A candidate can win outright with more than 50 percent of the vote in the first round. If no one hits that threshold, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated.
Voters who chose that candidate as their top pick have their votes count for their next choice. Rounds continue until two candidates remain, and whoever has the most votes wins.
In Alaska, voters last backed a Democrat for president in 1964.
Source: AP
Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., Democratic candidate for New Yorks 12th Congressional District, campaigns at the 79th St. Greenmarket on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, on Sunday, August 21, 2022.
Tom Williams | CQ-Roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images
Rep. Jerry Nadler will defeat his colleague Rep. Carolyn Maloney in a vicious House primary that locked the longtime New York Democrats in a battle for the heart of Manhattan, NBC News projected.
The two lawmakers were pitted against each other after a redrawn district map spurred them to compete for a single seat in Congress.
Nadler, 75, and Maloney, 76, have represented adjacent chunks of the island for about three decades. Both hold powerful seats in Congress: Nadler chairs the House Judiciary Committee, while Maloney leads the House Oversight Committee.
Nadler's congressional district had included the Upper West Side, while Maloney's covered much of the eastern half of Manhattan. But their separate districts were combined in May, the result of a messy and highly controversial redistricting process.
Both Nadler and Maloney announced they would run for the newly formed 12th Congressional District. Suraj Patel, who has challenged Maloney in two previous primary elections, was also on the ballot.
Despite their long history, the primary fight between Nadler and Maloney was anything but neighborly.
"He said, 'Step aside, I'm running.' And I said, 'Well, I'm running too. I'm not leaving,'" Maloney said in a New York Magazine profile of the race. "He said, 'I'm gonna win.' I said, 'I'm gonna win.' We haven't spoken since," she said.
Maloney has also fanned rumors that Nadler won't serve out his full term if elected and that he's senile and unfit for office — charges Nadler's campaign has denied.
Nadler has highlighted the differences in their voting records, saying Maloney has been "wrong on very major issues" including her "cowardly" vote for the Patriot Act, New York Magazine reported. Nadler has also made his Jewish faith a central part of his pitch to voters.
Maloney, meanwhile, has sought to center her experiences as a woman in politics while touting her record on social issues — including abortion, a galvanizing topic in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision to strike down Roe v. Wade. She has been endorsed by famed attorney and feminist activist Gloria Steinem.
"You cannot send a man to do a woman's job," Maloney said in a recent television ad.
Correction: This report has been updated to correctly describe the area of Maloney's former congressional district.
Top-ranked Daniil Medvedev committed 11 double-faults in falling to Stefanos Tsitsipas 7-6 (8/6), 3-6, 6-3 in the semi-finals of the ATP and WTA Cincinnati Masters.
Tsitsipas won only his third match against Medvedev after losing seven and also defeated a reigning number one player for only the second time in 12 career attempts.
(Reuters)
Fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas has edged world number one Daniil Medvedev 7-6(6) 3-6 6-3 in an absorbing semi-final at the Cincinnati Open to set up a summit clash with Borna Coric after the Croatian's 6-3 6-4 win over Cameron Norrie.
Medvedev on Saturday helped seal his own fate in the sixth game of the final set as he double-faulted four times to hand his Greek opponent to a 4-2 lead.
Tsitsipas will play for the title on Sunday against Croatian Borna Coric, who returned to an ATP Masters final for the first time in four years by defeating Britain's Cameron Norrie 6-3, 6-4.
Tsitsipas won only his third match against Medvedev after losing seven and also defeated a reigning number one player for only the second time in 12 career attempts.
The fourth seed put a winner into the corner on the first of three match points to earn the final.
READ MORE: Medvedev, Tsitsipas advance to semi-final showdown in Cincinnati'Difficult task'
"I knew I would have a difficult task in the third set," Tsitsipas said. "He made it a very physical match, very demanding.
"But I took advantage of his missed first serves. They gave me time to think of my next move clearly. I was very calm and concentrated on every single task."
World number 152 Coric, who missed a year of play with shoulder problems and only returned to the tour in March, advanced in 91 minutes in a match delayed for hours by an afternoon of rain.
READ MORE: Unvaccinated Djokovic out of Montreal ATP eventWomen tennis
On the women's side, Petra Kvitova outlasted Madison Keys 6-7 (6), 6-4, 6-3 on Saturday to reach the Western & Southern Open final.
The 32-year-old Kvitova had never advanced to the semifinals in 10 prior appearances in the Cincinnati tournament. It is Czech's 40th career final, and she'll face another surprise entrant in Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia, the first qualifier to reach the final in Cincinnati.
Kvitova almost didn't make it out of the first round, having to save a match point against last year's finalist, Jil Teichmann. She also needed three sets to beat fifth-ranked Ons Jabeur in the third round.
Keys, the 2019 champion in Cincinnati, defeated three grand slam winners this week, but couldn’t close out Kvitova.
Source: AFP
Darwin Nunez shaded Erling Haaland in their first matchup by scoring Liverpool's final goal as it beat Manchester City 3-1 in the Community Shield.
Nunez, right, was an instant fan favourite.
(AP)
Liverpool's new striker Darwin Nunez has scored a late goal on his debut as they drew first blood in this season's rivalry with Manchester City after a 3-1 win in the Community Shield.
The Uruguayan, bought from Benfica for an initial fee of $76.64 million (75 million euros), made himself an instant fan favourite after capping a lively appearance off the bench with a stoppage time goal to secure the first trophy of the season on Saturday.
English champions City started their big close-season signing, Norway's Erling Haaland but, in contrast to Nunez, he had a disappointing debut, missing several chances and struggling to combine with his new team mates.
However, another new City face, Argentine forward Julian Alvarez, found the target after coming on in the second half.
Trent Alexander-Arnold had opened the scoring, firing Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool side ahead in the 21st minute of the 100th edition of the annual clash between the league champions and FA Cup winners.
Thiago Alcantara floated the ball to Mohamed Salah on the right and the Egyptian laid it back to Alexander-Arnold whose first time shot curled into the far corner.
Haaland, brought in from Borussia Dortmund, missed two first half chances to mark his City debut with a goal but Pep Guardiola's side were missing their usual fluency.
It was another new striking addition who brought City level in the 70th minute when Phil Foden's shot was parried by Adrian and with the ball spilling loose, former River Plate forward Alvarez pounced to net his first goal for the club.
The effort was initially ruled out for offside but a VAR review overturned the decision although the technology was soon to work against Guardiola's side.
Referee Craig Pawson went to the monitor before ruling that City defender Ruben Dias had handled at close range from a Nunez header and Mohamed Salah drilled home the penalty to restore Liverpool's lead in the 83rd minute.
Nunez then capped an eventful appearance from the bench, scoring with an angled header after Andy Robertson had nodded the ball into his path.
Haaland's testing debut ended with him missing a sitter when Phil Foden's shot was pushed out by Adrian and the blond forward blasted his shot against the bar and over.
"Our season started today and it was important for us to get off on the right foot," said Alexander-Arnold, who was full of praise for 23-year-old Nunez's impact.
"He won the penalty, scored a goal and looked very lively. He's been bought in to score goals and he's proved he can do that today," he said, calling Nunez "a top player".
