Begich knocks Palin for leaving Alaska ‘to be a celebrity’

Correction: An earlier version of this report misidentified the candidates who advanced in Alaska’s special election

Republican Nick Begich criticized former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin for leaving the state “to be a celebrity” in a new ad as the pair jostle for the state’s only U.S. House seat.

“I get it. Sarah Palin is famous. But come on, U.S. Congress?” asks the ad’s narrator.

“As governor, Palin drove oil investment out of Alaska, created our bloated state budget, quit and left Alaska to be a celebrity who didn’t want to be stuck in Wasilla,” the ad says, playing over footage of Palin’s 2020 appearance on the reality singing competition “The Masked Singer.” 

Begich’s team told The Hill that the ad is running statewide, but declined to comment on the cost. The Hill has also reached out to Palin’s campaign.

Begich and Palin have advanced, along with Democrat Mary Peltola, to this month’s special election. Independent candidate Al Gross also advanced, but dropped out of the race. The seat opened up after the March passing of Rep. Don Young (R), who had held the position for 49 years. 

Palin was plucked from her governorship to be the Republican party’s 2008 vice presidential nominee alongside the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). The pair lost their presidential bid, and Palin resigned from the governor’s office the following year. 

She was a supporter then-candidate Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, and the former president endorsed her House run earlier this year. 

Trump joined Palin in a tele-rally for her campaign Monday night, following the news that the FBI executed a search warrant against the former president’s Mar-a-Lago resort, which Trump brushed off during the call as “a strange day,” the Anchorage Daily News reported.

As many as 51 candidates were in the ring to replace Young.

Begich is the grandson of former Rep. Nick Begich, a Democrat, who was presumed to have died in a plane crash 50 years ago. Young went on to win his seat in a special election.

–Updated on Aug. 10 at 7:53 a.m.