Mark Begich, a Democrat elected in 2008, is Alaska’s junior senator. He was born five years after his parents moved to the Alaska Territory in 1957 to teach school. His father, Nick Begich, was a major figure in the state’s political history. He was elected to the Alaska Senate and, in 1970, was elected Alaska’s at-large representative to Congress. In October 1972, Nick Begich was killed along with U.S. House Majority Leader Hale Boggs of Louisiana as they were flying to a campaign fundraiser. Their plane disappeared over the Gulf of Alaska. The terrible loss initially turned a young Mark Begich away from politics as a potential career. “I was 10 years old, my mother was thirty-four, and she had six kids, and the job that took my dad away from me was politics. So probably subconsciously I had no interest, zero, because of that,” Begich said. Read More

Mark Begich, a Democrat elected in 2008, is Alaska’s junior senator. He was born five years after his parents moved to the Alaska Territory in 1957 to teach school. His father, Nick Begich, was a major figure in the state’s political history. He was elected to the Alaska Senate and, in 1970, was elected Alaska’s at-large representative to Congress. In October 1972, Nick Begich was killed along with U.S. House Majority Leader Hale Boggs of Louisiana as they were flying to a campaign fundraiser. Their plane disappeared over the Gulf of Alaska. The terrible loss initially turned a young Mark Begich away from politics as a potential career. “I was 10 years old, my mother was thirty-four, and she had six kids, and the job that took my dad away from me was politics. So probably subconsciously I had no interest, zero, because of that,” Begich said.

As a young man, Begich was more interested in business. Showing his entrepreneurial side at age 16, he opened a teen nightclub called the Motherlode. When the property he leased was sold to someone who wanted to shut the nightclub down and replace it with a strip club, Begich gathered signatures on a petition protesting the award of a liquor license for the bar, testified in front of the city Assembly, and ultimately succeeded in having conditions attached to the granting of the license. When he graduated from high school in 1980, the Alaskan economy had hit a low point and his mother’s real estate business was in serious trouble. Begich recalled, “She was a single parent, and in order to help, I had a choice.” Rather than go to college like many of his classmates, Begich went to work in every aspect of his mother’s business, from maintenance to management of the properties. He helped several of his brothers and sisters with their college expenses, although it meant giving up his own chance to earn a degree. That experience, he said, led him to place a high value on educational opportunity and is one of the main reasons he says he’s a Democrat in a conservative state like Alaska. But he’s quick to note that he’s an Alaska-style Democrat, which is to say, “pro-gun rights, pro-oil and gas, pro-business, small business.”

Despite his prior disinterest in politics, it turned out that Begich inherited his father’s knack for it. He was appointed by the Anchorage mayor to the youth commission at age 17, and then landed a spot in the city health department. When he was 20, Begich was hired as the personal assistant to Mayor Tony Knowles, who would later become governor. A few years later, Begich, frustrated that the roads in his neighborhood were not being paved, ran for the Anchorage Assembly and won, becoming the body’s youngest member ever. He served for 10 years and was chosen chairman.

In the 1990s, Gov. Knowles appointed Begich to the Student Loan Corporation and tasked him with dealing with its serious financial problems. Begich identified a debilitating lack of coordination between the corporation and the Post-Secondary Education Commission, and dealt with the problem by appointing himself chairman of the commission. He held meetings of the two organizations at the same time, compelling them to get along. When he left the Student Loan Corporation, he had significantly lowered interest rates for borrowers and raised its bond rating. In 1994, Begich ran for Anchorage mayor and lost with 42% of the vote. He ran again in 2000 and lost with 48%. In his third attempt in 2003, Begich beat incumbent George Wuerch. As mayor, Begich claimed credit for getting voters to twice pass bond issues, for holding down property taxes, for hiring 65 additional police officers, and for setting up a multi-agency anti-gang initiative. He was easily re-elected to a second term in 2006.

In late 2007, national Democratic leaders began courting Begich for a possible challenge to U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, a six-term Republican who was vulnerable as a result of a federal corruption investigation into his relationship with Bill Allen, the head of VECO, an oil services company. Stevens was later indicted for failing to report on his Senate financial disclosure forms thousands of dollars in renovation work that VECO employees did on his home. Despite this baggage, Stevens was still a formidable figure to cross in Alaskan politics. He had represented the state for four decades and had won re-election by wide margins; in one race he carried every precinct in the state. He could claim credit for the legislation that allowed the building of the Alaska oil pipeline and that established Alaska Native corporations. As a senior member of the Appropriations Committee, he funneled vast sums of money into the state. Begich was encouraged to take him on by Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairman Charles Schumer of New York. Begich also traveled the state, testing the waters for a possible candidacy in areas where he had little or no name recognition.

In early 2008, Begich made the decision to challenge Stevens on an anti-corruption platform. “We’ve seen here in Alaska the ultimate result of unfettered greed—grainy videotapes of state legislators in hotel rooms laughing at the citizens of our great state,” he said. “And we’ve seen in Washington the ultimate result of special influence and legislative indifference.” He issued an “Alaska Ethics Pledge” in which he vowed to make public both his and his wife’s finances “to the dollar” and to disclose the beneficiary of his congressional earmarks, the special spending provisions tucked into appropriations bills by lawmakers. But he was careful not to attack the revered Stevens personally, and he paid tribute to Stevens’ long service to the state.

Begich also zeroed in on Alaska issues. He called for increased spending for rural health care, an important matter for many Alaskan natives, and for loans for energy-efficient community buildings. He spoke out strongly against the No Child Left Behind Act, which he argued had hurt rural schools. He said that the national Democratic Party was “wrong” on gun rights, and wrong in opposing drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. With help from the DSSC, he proved to be a solid fundraiser, spending $4.4 million to Stevens’ $5.7 million. National Democrats ran ads showing federal agents raiding the incumbent’s house. National Republicans ran ads accusing Begich of rezoning downtown Anchorage land to aid two developers, and highlighting $16,000 in tax liens on his businesses in the 1990s.

Stevens was indicted on July 29, 2008. He proclaimed his innocence, but polls showed him running slightly behind or even with Begich. In the August Democratic primary, Begich got 84% of the vote against four opponents. In the GOP primary, Stevens beat David Cuddy, a businessman who had run against him 12 years before, 64%-27%. Some national Republicans expressed hope that Stevens would resign and let Alaska Republicans pick a new, untarnished candidate. But Stevens refused to quit even though he spent much of the fall campaign season on trial in a Washington, D.C., courtroom. On October 27, 2008, Stevens was convicted on all seven counts. He accused Justice Department lawyers of “unconscionable” conduct, and aired a two-minute television ad recounting what he had done for Alaska for 40 years. Last-minute polls showed a dead heat.

For much of Election Night on November 3, returns put Stevens ahead of Begich 48%-46%, but the race was too close to call even into the next morning. Presidential candidate Barack Obama’s superb organization in Alaska had ensured that many Democrats cast early votes or absentee votes, and as they were counted, Begich gained ground. By November 12, Begich was ahead, and on November 18, he led by more than the number of votes left to count. He became the first Democratic senator elected in Alaska since Mike Gravel was re-elected in 1974.

In April 2009, the Justice Department dismissed Stevens’ conviction after it was revealed that prosecutors had failed to turn over key documents to his defense lawyers. The Alaska GOP and then-Gov. Sarah Palin called for a special election in light of the new information. Begich responded with a statement saying, “I got into the Senate race long before Sen. Stevens’ legal troubles began because Alaskans were looking for a change and a senator as independent as Alaska.” No special election was held.

In the Senate, Begich moved briskly to put his stamp on energy legislation and other issues vital to the Alaskan economy. “I’m not bashful about telling people what I think,” Begich says. “I’m very blunt about who and what I believe in. I don’t believe in all the protocols and that stuff around here.” He succeeded in getting Senate Democratic leaders interested in a bill he co-sponsored with Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana that spelled out the liability of oil companies in the wake of a spill like the one caused by BP in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. Their plan, adapted from the nuclear industry, ensured that sky-high insurance costs would not shut out small and mid-sized oil companies from drilling opportunities. The BP escrow account President Obama announced with BP on June 16, 2010, was an idea that Begich discussed in the Democratic Caucus right after the blowout. He introduced a bill that forces companies responsible for spills to put money in an escrow account in order to obtain future leases.

In 2009, Begich introduced several bills aimed at improving life in the Arctic. They would coordinate the plethora of scientific research projects currently being conducted in the Arctic, create a U.S. ambassador to the Arctic, provide for new icebreakers and Coast Guard facilities, and promote research into oil spill response in Arctic waters. He also pushed to ensure that the Senate’s energy bill would include revenue-sharing, a top priority for him. With fellow Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican, he voted against a ban on earmark spending, saying it would have a negative effect on Alaska’s economy.

Democratic leaders took note of the energetic newcomer and in 2010 named Begich chairman of the Democratic Steering and Outreach Committee, a 15-member panel made up of the chairs of major Senate committees. The slot puts him in the Senate Democratic leadership.