Sarah Palin loses Alaska special election to Democrat Mary Peltola

Peltola's victory in the state's first ranked choice voting election makes her the first Alaska Native to serve in the House

The Democrat Mary Peltola has won the special election for Alaska's only US House seat, besting a field that included the Republican Sarah Palin, who was seeking a political comeback in the state where she was once governor.

Peltola, who is Yup'ik and turned 49 on Wednesday, will become the first Alaska Native to serve in the House and the first woman to hold the seat. She will serve the remaining months of the late Republican US Representative Don Young's term. Young held the seat for 49 years before his death in March.