From Palin to Peltola: Begich on Winning Over Alaska's Divided Electorate
Jun 22, 2024
Kelly Tshibaka and Niki Tshibaka
Nick Begich shares his roadmap for a conservative resurgence in Alaska's political landscape. Tune in to hear Nick's compelling insights on navigating the complexities of ranked choice voting and his strategic commitment to self-imposing primaries among Republicans. Nick's deep understanding of Alaskan and American issues, combined with his clear path to victory, will offer listeners valuable perspectives on the upcoming electoral challenges and opportunities.
Discover how Nick envisions overcoming the hurdles of ranked choice voting to unify the Republican vote and challenge the Democratic incumbent. With the political tailwind of a presidential election year strengthening their position, Nick outlines a plan to harness voter participation and capitalize on a potential landslide for Trump in Alaska. This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in the future of conservative politics in Alaska and beyond.
Nick Begich shares his roadmap for a conservative resurgence in Alaska's political landscape. Tune in to hear Nick's compelling insights on navigating the complexities of ranked choice voting and his strategic commitment to self-imposing primaries among Republicans. Nick's deep understanding of Alaskan and American issues, combined with his clear path to victory, will offer listeners valuable perspectives on the upcoming electoral challenges and opportunities.
Discover how Nick envisions overcoming the hurdles of ranked choice voting to unify the Republican vote and challenge the Democratic incumbent. With the political tailwind of a presidential election year strengthening their position, Nick outlines a plan to harness voter participation and capitalize on a potential landslide for Trump in Alaska. This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in the future of conservative politics in Alaska and beyond.
Welcome back to Stand with Kelly and Nikki Chebaka. We are on with Nick Begich, candidate for Congress. Nick, this has been a fantastic and really, I think, wide-ranging discussion and really appreciate the depth of your policy insights. You clearly are well-educated on these issues. You understand them through and through. You understand the issues that are important to Alaskans and to Americans on a broader level. I would like to talk a little bit about what you see as your path to victory. We live in a ranked choice environment and that complicates things for Republicans environment and that complicates things for Republicans, and that was the whole point of the Democrats putting it in here and our Senator, lisa Murkowski, helping putting it in here. Talk to us about your path to victory. For those who are just sort of scratching their heads and thinking I just I think Nick is great and we want to see a Republican win, but we're just not sure if they can, so I'm not even going to vote at all, because what's the point, yeah?
Speaker 2:
oh well, let me first. First off, everybody vote, okay, look, if you're watching this podcast, you need to vote. If you're an american, you need to vote. It's your civic responsibility to vote. So be educated, make an informed decision, vote for the person you think will best represent you in the house, but please vote. But setting that aside, look, we have a clear path to victory. I mean, decision Desk HQ came out here just last week and gave us a 53% chance of taking the seat back, which is incredible considering that the Democrat has outraged the Republicans in this race. Something like seven to one combined. So we have the tailwind, the political tailwind, with the presidential election year. Trump's going to win Alaska by 10 to 20 points, probably closer to 20 if Kelly's involved 30 points.
Speaker 1:
30 points there you go.
Speaker 2:
He's going to win. He's going to win this state in a landslide and this is our opportunity to retire Mary Feltola and put a conservative back in office on behalf of the people of Alaska. And the pathway to victory is a little muddied, I will tell you, because of ranked choice voting and I am one who has signed the repeal petition. I was proud to put my name on the repeal petition for ranked choice voting. It should appear on the ballot this November for ranked choice voting. It should appear on the ballot this November. And I think a lot of Alaskans in fact, the data has shown up to this point that more than half of Alaskans want to see ranked choice voting go away. We have to deal with it right now, and I think the best way to deal with ranked choice voting, my opinion, is to self-impose a primary.
Speaker 2:
We saw what happened in our race in 2022. And you know, sarah Palin and I were both in that race and we the reality is we ended up splitting votes and folks say, well, if you just would rank, you wouldn't split votes. Well, that's theoretically true, but you can't make every single person rank. It turns out that there'll be a percentage of people who simply won't do it, no matter how many times you talk to those people. In fact, the more you talk to some folks, the less they want to participate in that system, and so it's just not going to. It just doesn't happen that way, and so I think we need to be self-imposing primaries on Republicans voluntarily. It's something that I have committed to do in this race, have committed to do in this race. If another Republican finishes ahead of me in this race, I will get out and allow that Republican field to consolidate so that we can take the Democrat out, and that, I believe, gives us the best path to victory. So is it possible that you can do it with more than one Republican in the race? Yes, it's theoretically possible, but I say you go from a four lane highway to a goat trail if you've got more than one Republican running in the race, and so that's what I think gives us the best opportunity to win Polling shows, as has been pointed out in one of the prior segments, polling shows that I am tied with Mary Peltola once the roll-up effects of ranked choice voting are taken into account, and the reality is that is pretty incredible Again, considering how much favorable press my opponent, my Democrat opponent has gotten, how much money she's raised, how much money she's already spent, because the people of Alaska recognize that she truly doesn't represent their values in DC.
Speaker 2:
So there's a strong pathway, the data's there. I think we have a good, strong strategy for achieving victory. The Congressional Leadership Fund has already allocated over $5 million in television spending. They recognize they made a big mistake in the last election cycle. The NRCC and the Congressional Leadership Fund did not spend significant amounts of resources in Alaska, predominantly, I'm told, because they believed they would have some giant red wave that would wash across the country and they could come back to Alaska in the future and pick it up.
Speaker 2:
Well, that didn't happen, and yet we lose the seat, and so there's a recognition, I think, nationally, that we need to get Alaska's seat back. One of the important things about Alaska is that we really are not a swing district. We're really not. We are a red state and in the House, where you have 435 members, there are certainly going to be some swing districts. You're going to have 20 or 30 swing districts across the country that will go from blue to red and then back to blue and then back to red until you go through the next census and reapportion the process. But the reality is Alaska is a deep red state and, as our single congressional district in this state, we should be having a Republican representing us, and that's why it's worth the investment to make sure that we get a conservative back in office, because we'll hold that seat for a long period of time.
Speaker 3:
I agree with you. Let's jump into some questions that we need to just, I think would be good to resolve for people who have lingering questions from last election. How will you win over Palin supporters who dug their heels in? I just saw like this almost stubbornness in the last election, where Republicans picked camps and then didn't move. So how are you planning to win over some of the Palin voters from last election?
Speaker 2:
It's a great question. It's a really fair question. We have seen in the data that a lot of those folks have come over already.
Speaker 3:
That's great.
Speaker 2:
So that's really been positive. But I think I think it's really making clear Look, I have been America first. This is not a new thing for me. I didn't just wake up one morning and say, oh, I'm going to be America first today. I supported Trump in 2016. I was at his presidential inauguration in 2017. I spoke at a Bipers for Trump rally in 2020.
Speaker 2:
I have been on the Trump train, america first agenda for a long time and I think some of the some of the confusion in the last election prevented us from being able to articulate that to enough Alaska. So I think people have seen that. They've also seen what happened in the last election and no one's happy with that result. And so when you look at the data, in fact from the last, the last election, more than 60 percent of Sarah Palin's voters put me second on their ballot, and so I think you know there's there's sort of three camps. You've got that camp, you've got people who didn't rank at all, and then you have people who put Mary Peltola second, and so you know 60 percent put me second. The folks that didn't rank recognize that. You know most of them recognize that you've got to participate in that process if there's more than one credible Republican on the ballot.
Speaker 2:
And lastly, for folks who put Mary Peltola second, she clearly is not America first. She clearly doesn't support Trump. In fact, she's endorsed Joe Biden for president and they recognize that that's not a good solution either. So I think that we've got a strong answer. We've done a tremendous job. I have to compliment my team on this and making sure that we're spending time, you know, in the areas of the state where Palin had a lot of support and you know there's, I would hope, no animosity carrying over from that last campaign. We've done everything we can to reach out to those folks and continue to reach out to folks because at the end of the day, we've got to. It's not just about Alaska's seat, it's about saving this country.
Speaker 1:
I also appreciate the point that you just made about tying Congresswoman Peltola to Biden, because that's really important. If Alaskans want more Biden policies hitting Alaska, then vote for Peltola. If Alaskans want to see our state sort of right itself and rise again, don't vote for Peltola.
Speaker 2:
Well, kelly brought it up earlier. You know there's been 63 executive orders that target Alaska from Joe Biden and despite that, mary Peltola has endorsed and continues to support Joe Biden. She was even on Meet the Press here recently saying that Joe Biden if you can believe this, joe Biden to her was one of the most articulate, intelligent people she'd met in Washington DC. Oh my goodness. It's outrageous, I don't anyone who's watched any, any news at all should be able to discern. Wait a minute, he does not have all of his faculties.
Speaker 3:
I mean to be fair. You don't know who she's met.
Speaker 2:
Well, OK, fair enough. But it's it's it just depends on the pool of people.
Speaker 1:
She clearly represents, that's right.
Speaker 2:
Maybe she needs to expand her circle.
Speaker 3:
That's right? I think so.
Speaker 2:
But this is her judgment. I mean, if this is the person's judgment that we're sending on behalf of Alaskans to DC to make decisions for us, well, we got some problems, that's not good.
Speaker 3:
In all seriousness, like you said, I think it might be the talking points from the staff.
Speaker 1:
Well, that that, and, at the end of the day, what we ultimately know with those statements is she represents Joe Biden, she doesn't represent Alaska, and that's the point. One of the points I think it just needs to be communicated forcefully to Alaskans is she represents Biden and the establishment and those people are anti-Alaska, and so if you vote for them, you're voting against yourself. Nick, we're coming up on the close of the show, but we'd like to give you a couple of minutes to address Alaska and America directly. Give them and give us your closing pitch for why Nick Begich III should be our next congressman from Alaska in DC.
Speaker 2:
Look, I'll tell you right now. Alaska has a compelling story. People love this state. People dream of coming to Alaska. They dream of Alaska because it represents the last frontier. We are the last frontier. Our state motto is north to the future. We need to make sure that that promise continues for generations to come.
Speaker 2:
Shutting down Alaska prevents us from achieving any of those dreams, any of those ideals. We can't be that place to look to if we're going to turn Alaska into a national park. Alaska has more estimated undiscovered oil and gas resources than any other state in the country. We have not billions, not hundreds of billions, but trillions of dollars in mineral wealth waiting to be unlocked for the benefit of the people of our state and the people of this great nation. We need Alaska, but in order for people outside of our state to understand just how compelling our state can be for them, we have to have someone who can tell Alaska's story again. That's why I'm running.
Speaker 2:
I want to tell that story on behalf of Alaskans. I believe it's a story that everybody can get behind. Yes, I'm a conservative, yes, I'm a Republican, but there are good reasons why people even on the other side of the aisle should want this state developed. It's good for Alaska, it's good for America, it's good for jobs, it's good for energy security, it's good for mineral security, it's good for national defense and we need this state to be a part of our portfolio as a nation moving forward. I want to make that case on behalf of our state and I want to take that story to the rest of America.
Speaker 3:
Nick, where can people donate to if they want to support your campaign?
Speaker 2:
Alaskansfornickbegichcom is our website. Please come out. We've got policies out there. We'd love to have your financial support. As was mentioned, there's a lot of money coming in from outside of Alaska. We need help to make sure we can get that positive message out to the people of Alaska and win in.
Speaker 3:
November Alaskan advocate. We need an America first advocate. Nick Begich is running for Congress in Alaska November 2024. That'll be our election day. This looks like a promising election, Nick. We're so glad that you were with us on stand. Thanks for joining us today. We're at stand show dot org. Make sure to hit subscribe. We will see you next week.