Don Young (R) had been Alaska's lone U.S. House representative for over 49 years when he died on March 18. There is clearly a lot of pent-up demand, as 51 candidates have filed to take his place. A nonpartisan primary will take place entirely by mail. Ballots will be sent out in May and must be postmarked by June 11.
The top four finishers in the primary will advance to the August 16 special general election, which will use ranked choice voting to determine a winner. Both the all-mail primary and the structure of the election are firsts for Alaska. August 16 is the same date as the statewide primary, where voters will separately choose four nominees for the full two-year term to be contested in November's general election.
The party distribution of the 51 candidates: 17 Republican (R), 13 nonpartisan (N), 10 undeclared (U), 6 Democratic (D), 3 Libertarian (L), 1 Alaska Independence (AK), 1 American Independent (AI).