November 7, 2018 — It wasn’t expected to be so close.
Until roughly a month ago, most pundits expected Alaska Republican Don Young — the longest-serving member of the House of Representatives, a colorful, 85-year-old personality who has an office decorated with wild game trophies, has been known to wield a walrus penis bone in order to make a point, and is also one of the commercial seafood industry’s biggest champions — to handily defeat his Democratic opponent and retain his seat, as usual, on Nov. 6.
Then, a few days before the election, it wasn’t such a given, as polls showed Young’s 53-year-old Democratic challenger, Alyse Galvin, winning by a percentage point.
In the end, Young kept his job, apparently winning a 45th term with roughly 54% of the vote, though more votes remain to be counted.
“We got more votes this time than we got before, and everybody had me down,” he reportedly told the Associated Press in the early morning hours, after Galvin gave her concession speech.
“I feel real good about our campaign, and we were able to prove that Alaskans appreciate what I’ve been able to do. I’m going to have a good two years ahead of us,” he added.
Follow the examples set by Frank and Kennedy
Young wasn’t the only congressional race of consequence to the commercial fishing industry in the 2018 election.
Representative Bill Keating, the Massachusetts Democrat whose 9th district includes New Bedford, home of the US’ most valuable commercial fishing port, is the projected winner over GOP challenger Peter Tedeschi, having secured 61.3% of the vote with 43% of the precincts reporting.
Keating, who outraised Tedeschi by about $1.2 million to $800,000 in his campaign, is one of the Democrats that Bob Vanasse, executive director of Saving Seafood, hopes will continue to represent commercial seafood harvesters in the new Congress.
“Many of our coastal communities are represented by Democrats and they have been in the minority,” said Vanasse, whose group represents pro-commercial fishing interests. “We are hopeful that they will follow the examples of such members of Congress as Barney Frank and Ted Kennedy who demonstrated unequivocally that one can be a strong Democrat and a strong liberal and also stand up for the working families in their fishing communities.”