There's even a candidate named Santa Claus.

The unexpected death in March of Rep. Don Young, the Republican who represented Alaska’s sole congressional district for nearly half a century, has given rise to a crowded and raucous race to succeed him.

No fewer than four dozen Alaskans — political veterans, gadflies, and even a man legally named Santa Claus — are running to succeed Young as the lone representative in the House for the state’s 734,000 people.

The list of candidates is sprawling. It includes former Gov. Sarah Palin, who is endorsed by former President Donald Trump; Nick Begich III, whose grandfather held the seat before Young; four Alaska Natives, including one, Tara Sweeney, who served in the Trump administration; Jeff Lowenfels, a retired lawyer and a prolific local gardening columnist; and Claus, a portly, bearded North Pole councilman and socialist.

State officials and advocacy groups are rushing to pull off the rapid-fire contests and ensure that voters understand how the new rules work.

“We’re compressing everything that usually is done in about seven months in 90 days,” said Gail Fenumiai, Alaska’s director of elections, who said her team would mail and process more than 586,000 ballots. “There’s a significant amount of work involved.”

State officials decided to hold the special election by mail, in part because there was not enough time for the necessary hiring and training of more than 2,000 new election workers, as well as testing and sending election equipment across the state. A ballot was carefully designed to fit all the names on one side of paper, with the first ones sent out less than six weeks after Young died.

[seattletimes.com]