Rep. Don Young in his Washington D.C. office on Thursday, June 25, 2015. (Marc Lester / ADN)
Don Young, the seemingly indestructible politician who was Alaska’s sole congressman for more than three-fourths of his state’s existence, died Friday.
His wife, Anne, was by his side, his office said in statement.
“It’s with heavy hearts and deep sadness that we announce Congressman Don Young, the Dean of the House and revered champion for Alaska, passed away today while traveling home to Alaska to be with the state and people that he loved,” the statement said.
Young, a Republican and the longest-serving member of Congress, lost consciousness on a flight from Los Angeles to Seattle and couldn’t be resuscitated, said Jack Ferguson, a lobbyist who once served as Young’s chief of staff.
“Everyone’s learning about it right at the moment. The phone’s ringing off the hook,” Ferguson said in a phone interview Friday evening. “I’m sad to lose such a good friend, and a person that I’ve known all his political career.”
Young served in Congress since 1973. He was sworn in after winning a special election to replace Democrat Nick Begich, who disappeared on a campaign flight.
In his 49 years in office, Young built up a singular political brand, with brashness and verbal gaffes belying a wisdom about the internal workings of Congress and an uncommon reputation for bipartisanship.
Young introduced Deb Haaland, a former Democratic Congresswoman, when President Joe Biden nominated her as Interior Secretary last year, and he asked Democratic U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi to meet him for a drink when he swore her in as House Speaker.
Congressman Don Young participated in a Get Out the Vote rally at the Eagle River Lions Club on Sunday, Nov. 1, 2020. (Bill Roth / ADN)
John Boehner, a Republican former House speaker, once said Young held a knife to his throat — “mostly true,” Young acknowledged — but then Boehner agreed to be the best man at Young’s wedding.
Through decades of those inflammatory comments, and an ethics scandal, Alaskans continued returning Young to Washington, D.C. And it rarely was close.
“The only time I’ll retire is when people want to retire me,” Young said in a 2014 interview with the Daily News. “The people decide I can’t serve them any more, they’ll get rid of me. It’s that simple.”
After nearly 25 terms, Young was running for a 26th; he had fundraisers scheduled in Juneau and Anchorage next week. His leading Republican opponent was one of Begich’s grandsons, Nick Begich III.
Ferguson, the lobbyist, said Young was eager to serve two more years in a U.S. House that he expected would be flipped from Democratic to Republican control.
“That was his goal, and he felt he could best help the state in the position he’s held all these years,” Ferguson said. “He was vibrant, he had a lot of energy, he’s very clear of mind, spoke clearly about what he wanted to accomplish, set goals that he wanted to make happen, and was happy to be running.”
Tributes quickly poured in after Young’s office announced his death, even though the news broke late on the East Coast. Haaland, the interior secretary, said she was “terribly sad” to hear of her “dear friend Congressman Don Young’s passing.”
“As dean of the House, Mr. Young taught all of us how to love the people and the states that we represent,” Haaland said. “Everything he did, every day, was for Alaska and its people, whom he loved dearly. He leaves us a tremendous legacy of bipartisanship in service of the greater good.”
Alaska GOP Gov. Mike Dunleavy described Young as a “Congressman whom Alaska will remember forever.” U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski said “we have lost a giant.” Wasilla GOP Rep. Cathy Tilton, the leader of the Alaska House Republican minority, called Young “a towering figure in Alaska for more than half a century.”
The statement from Dillingham independent Rep. Bryce Edgmon, a former state House speaker, voiced a reaction quietly held by more than one Alaskan: that it seemed Young might live forever.
“I can’t imagine Congress without Don Young fighting for Alaska,” Edgmon said.
State law requires GOP Gov. Mike Dunleavy to call a special election to fill Young’s seat within three months, and no sooner than two months from the date of his death.
ADVERTISEMENT
In 2020, Alaska voters approved a citizens initiative overhauling the state’s election system, with new top-four in primary elections and ranked choice voting in general elections. But state election officials have not yet confirmed that those systems will be used to replace Young.
“Our initial review of statute is not clear,” Tiffany Montemayor, a state elections division spokeswoman, said in an email. “We are working with the Department of Law so we can provide the governor, Legislature, and Alaska voters with the clearest possible answer.”
0 of 41
Don Young in his Washington, D.C. office, on June 25, 2015. (Marc Lester / ADN)
US Representative Don Young reacts as his supporters chant his name as he talks to the media at Election Central in the Egan Center in downtown Anchorage, AK on Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018. Young won reelection defeating Alyse Galvin. (Bob Hallinen / ADN)
Don Young in his Washington, D.C. office, on June 25, 2015. (Marc Lester / ADN)
Photo courtesy The White House 1973
President Richard Nixon met with U. S. House candidate Don Young and U. S. Senator Ted Stevens on February 11, 1973.
Congressman Don Young reacts to protesters gathered where food was being served at his meet and greet at the Delaney Park Strip on Monday, August 13, 2007. Young said, "It's America, they can do what they want to do." (Bill Roth/Anchorage Daily News)
Rep. Don Young, left, and Sen. Lisa Murkowski share a laugh as they sit with the state of their former congressional colleague Ted Stevens. A bronze statue of Ted Stevens was unveiled during a ceremony at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport on February 23, 2019. Stevens, who died in 2010, served in the U.S. Senate for 40 years. (Marc Lester / ADN)
US Representative Don Young speaks to supporters during an event at the Sourdough Mining Company on Thursday evening, January 10, 2008. Young has been Alaska's Congressman since 1973. (Marc Lester / Anchorage Daily News)
Rep. Don Young introduces his new bride Anne Garland Walton, a flight nurse from Fairbanks, to people attending the Alaska Federation of Natives Convention at the Dena'ina Center in Anchorage on Thursday, Oct. 15, 2015. (Bill Roth / ADN)
Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., and Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, waiting for their turn to present their budget to oversight, on March 1, 1995. (Photo by Chris Martin/ CQ Roll Call via AP Images)
Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, right, greets Martin Karmun, former mayor of Deering Alaska, after Young spoke to the Alaska Federation of Natives Convention in Anchorage, Alaska, Saturday Oct. 30, 2004. (AP Photo/Al Grillo)
Don Young in his Washington, D.C. office, on June 25, 2015. (Marc Lester / ADN)
This Thursday Oct. 22, 2009 shows U.S. Congressman Don Young, R-Alaska, left, greeting people at the Alaska Federation of Natives convention in Anchorage, Alaska. Documents filed in federal court alleges Young illegally received gifts totaling up to nearly $200,000 over 13 years from Bill Allen's now-defunct oil field services company Veco.(AP Photo/Al Grillo)
Don Young in the halls of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on June 25, 2015. (Marc Lester / ADN)
Don Young in his Washington, D.C. office, on June 25, 2015. (Marc Lester / ADN)
Lu Young looks at Congressman Don Young while he is interviewed at election central on November 4, 2008. (Marc Lester / ADN)
Congressman Don Young poses for photos with members of Colony High School's volleyball team at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport on Friday morning, October 31, 2008. Young was on his way to Kodiak to campaign for his reelection. (Marc Lester / ADN)
Don Young is interviewed for KSKA at election central Tuesday evening November 2, 2010 at the Egan Center downtown. (ERIK HILL / Anchorage Daily News)
Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski and Congressman Don Young take part in a delegation dialogue at the Alaska Federation of Natives convention on Friday, October 19, 2012 at the Dena'ina Convention Center in Anchorage, AK. A panel discussion with native leaders and Alaska Congressional members is going on upstairs and the art and craft sale is taking place on the bottom floor. (BOB HALLINEN / Anchorage Daily News)
Alaska Representative Don Young attended a thank you luncheon sponsored by the Matanuska-Susitna Borough at the Job Corp in Palmer. Timothy Anderson borough mayor presented Young with road signs for the borough road named after Young and the lane named after his wife Lu. Anderson said Lu Young's lane is longer then Don Young's road. (Bob Hallinen/Anchorage Daily News)
Rep. Don Young wipes a tear during a remembrance for his wife, Lu Young, at the AFN Convention on Thursday. Young's daughters Joni Nelson, left, and Dawn Vallely are seated beside him. "I love her, and I always will," Young said. (ADN Archive)
U.S. House candidate Don Young, right, meets with President Richard Nixon in the White House Oval Office on January, 31, 1973, as they discussed Alaska's unique problems and opportunities, especially the pipeline and the development of natural resources. (Photo courtesy The White House 1973)
Presidential candidate Ronald Reagan and wife, Nancy, are greeted at Anchorage International Airport by Alaska Congressman Don Young and a horde of reporters as they made a visit to Alaska in 1979. (Fran Durner /Daily News archive 1979)
Gerry Studds, D-Mass., listens to Rep. Don Young as he blasts members of the Gwich'in delegation at a hearing of the House Subcommittee of Fisheries and Wildlife Conservation and the Environment in Anchorage on August 7, 1991. (Bob Hallinen / ADN)
Rep. Don Young bends to wave to a motorist stopped at a traffic light as he campaigns on Monday, November 7, 2016, along the Seward Highway at East Benson Boulevard. (Erik Hill / ADN)
Rep. Don Young points out the proposed route of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline in Washington on June 15, 1973. (AP photo archive 1973)
FILE - In this June 28, 2019, file photo, U.S. Rep. Don Young answers a reporter's question after filing paperwork for re-election at the Alaska Division of Elections in Anchorage, Alaska. Young, the longest-serving member of Alaska’s congressional delegation, died Friday, March 18, 2022. He was 88. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen, File)
Anne Garland Walton and her husband Don Young at the Top Forty Under 40 event held at the Captain Cook Hotel ballroom Friday, Feb. 11, 2022. (Photo by MadMen Studios)
Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, on the opening day of the 117th Congress on Jan. 3, 2021. Washington Post photo by Bill O'Leary
Congressman Don Young pays his respects at the American Cemetery in Normandy, France, on Memorial Day 2019. (Photo via office of Rep. Don Young)
Pope John Paul II visited Anchorage in February of 1981.
Don Young and Frank Murkowski greet the dignitary. (Anchorage Times archive)
Rep. Deb Haaland, D-N.M., delivers a gift to Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, before the start of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources hearing on her nomination to be Interior Secretary, Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2021 on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Jim Watson/Pool via AP
Rep. Don Young gathers with supporters along Seward Highway at Northern Lights Boulevard on November 2, 2020. (Marc Lester / ADN)
U.S. Rep. Don Young, left, and Alyse Galvin square off in a debate for the sole Alaska house seat Thursday, Oct. 22, 2020, in Anchorage, Alaska. The debate between the candidates for Alaska’s sole seat in Congress became contentious Thursday, with challenger Galvin saying she’s tired of Young misrepresenting her position on issues. (Jeff Chen/Pool Photo via AP)
Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, talks with Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, before a press conference with U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar on Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2020 at the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium in Anchorage. Azar was in Anchorage to tour the Alaska Native Health Campus. (Loren Holmes / ADN)
Congressman Don Young questions Interior Secretary Ken Salazar during a natural resources hearing Nov. 15, 2011. His propeller beanie cap is a protest against President Obama's energy policies. (Video screenshot)
U.S. Rep. Don Young shares a laugh with Deborah Moody, a clerk for the Alaska Division of Elections, after he filed paperwork for re-election Friday, June 28, 2019, in Anchorage, Alaska. The 86-year-old Alaska Republican is seeking a 25th term and was first elected in 1973. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)
Rep. Don Young, right, removes a beaded bolo tie that his late wife Lu Young made for him and then gave it to Rev. Jerry Prevo who retired as pastor of Anchorage Baptist Temple on Sunday, May 5, 2019. (Bill Roth / ADN)
Governor Jay Hammond with the Alaska congressional delegation, Senator Ted Stevens and Representative Don Young, discussing the 200-mile zone bill in October 1975. (Anchorage Times archive)
Congressman Don Young with his wife Lu and their children. (Anchorage Daily News archive)
Lisa Murkowski released this picture to congratulate Don Young on his anniversary as a congressman.
Congressman Don Young met with folks at a Trappers Association swap meet in Palmer on October 18, 1984. (Anchorage Daily News archive)
Anchorage-based independent journalist Nathaniel Herz has been a reporter in Alaska for nearly a decade, with stints at the Anchorage Daily News and Alaska Public Media. Read his newsletter, Northern Journal, at natherz.substack.com