2008 United States Senate election in Alaska
The 2008 United States Senate election in Alaska was held on November 4, 2008. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator and former President pro tempore Ted Stevens ran for re-election for an eighth term (a seventh full term) in the United States Senate. It was one of the ten Senate races that U.S. Senator John Ensign of Nevada, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, predicted as being most competitive. The primaries were held on August 26, 2008. Stevens was challenged by Democratic candidate Mark Begich, the mayor of Anchorage and son of former U.S. Representative Nick Begich.
| |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
Borough and census area results Begich: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% Stevens: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% | |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
| Elections in Alaska |
|---|
On October 27, 2008, Stevens was convicted on seven charges of ethics violations and corruption. If re-elected, Stevens would have been the first convicted felon to be elected to the United States Senate. On November 18, 2008, the Associated Press called the race for Begich, making Stevens the longest-serving U.S. Senator ever to lose a re-election bid. Surpassing Warren Magnuson's record, they served for over 36 years before he lost his seat to Slade Gorton in 1980, 28 years prior. Stevens conceded the race to Begich on November 19.
Begich was the only Democrat in 2008 to flip a Senate seat in a state that Barack Obama lost (to John McCain) in the concurrent presidential election. With a margin of 1.3%, this election was the second-closest race of the 2008 Senate election cycle, behind only the election in Minnesota. Begich was the first Democrat to be elected to the U.S. Senate in Alaska since Mike Gravel in 1974. The party would not win another statewide election in Alaska until 2022, when Mary Peltola was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. This was the first time since 1966 that a Democrat was elected to Alaska's Class 2 Senate seat, and the only time since 1974 that Democrats won an Alaska U.S. Senate Election.
Stevens's conviction was set aside in April 2009, and the U.S. attorney general dropped all charges against him, citing serious prosecutorial misconduct during the trial. Nearly two years after his election defeat, on August 9, 2010, Stevens died in a plane crash.