Don Young, the longest-serving Republican in the history of the United States House of Representatives, has died. He was 88 years old when he died.
Young’s death was reported by his office in a statement released late Friday night.
“Congressman Don Young (R-AK), the Dean of the House and a famous champion for Alaska, passed suddenly today while flying home to be with the state and people he loved. Anne, his adoring wife, was at his side “Young’s congressional office issued a statement.
There was no mention of a cause of death. Details on plans for a memorial service for Young are planned in the coming days, according to Young’s office.
Young, who was first elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1973, was noted for his harsh demeanor. His off-color remarks and gaffes occasionally overshadowed his efforts in his final years in office. He described himself as aggressive and less-than-perfect during his 2014 reelection campaign, but he pledged he will not stop fighting for Alaska. Alaska only has one member in the House of Representatives.
Young was born on a family farm in Meridian, California, on June 9, 1933. In 1958, he graduated from Chico State College, now known as California State University, Chico, with a bachelor’s degree in education. According to his official biography, he also served in the United States Army.
Young arrived in Alaska in 1959, the same year it became a state, and credits his father’s reading of Jack London’s “Call of the Wild” with luring him north.
“I can’t handle heat, and when I worked on a ranch, I used to fantasize about going somewhere cool where there were no snakes or poison oak,” Young told The Associated Press in 2016.
He informed his mother he was moving to Alaska after quitting the service and after his father died. She was perplexed by his decision.
“‘I’m going up to drive dogs, capture fur, and dig gold,’ I remarked. “And I did it,” he added. He met his first wife, Lu, in Alaska, who persuaded him to pursue politics, which he claimed was disastrous in one sense since it took him to Washington, D.C., which he described as “a town that’s hotter than hell in the summer.” And there are a lot of two-legged snakes here.
Young moved at Fort Yukon, Alaska, a small settlement at the junction of the Yukon and Porcupine rivers in the state’s rocky, harsh interior that is only accessible by air. He worked in construction, trapping, and commercial fishing, among other things. According to his biography, he was a tug and barge operator who brought supplies to settlements along the Yukon River and a fifth-grade teacher at a Bureau of Indian Affairs school. Joni and Dawn were his two kids from his marriage to Lu.
In 1964, he was elected mayor of Fort Yukon, and two years later, he was elected to the state legislature. He spent two terms in the state Senate before being elected to the state Senate, where he said he was unhappy.
Lu stated that he needed to leave his work, but he refused, claiming that he does not resign. He recalls her encouraging him to run for the United States House of Representatives instead, claiming he’d never win.
Young ran against Democratic U.S. Rep. Nick Begich in 1972 as a Republican opponent. Begich’s jet vanished on a journey from Anchorage to Juneau three weeks before the election. Regardless, Alaskans re-elected Begich.
In December 1972, Begich was proclaimed deceased, and in March 1973, Young won a tight special election. Young sat in the seat until he died. This year, he was up for reelection against a field that included Republican Nicholas Begich III, one of Begich’s grandsons.
Young surpassed the late U.S. Senator Ted Stevens, who served for 40 years, as the longest-serving member of Alaska’s congressional delegation in 2013.
Lu Young married Anne Garland Walton in a secret wedding at the United States Capitol chapel in 2015, nearly six years after his death and on his 82nd birthday.
In 2016, he told the Associated Press, “Everybody knows Don Young.” “They may despise Don Young, or they may adore him. But they’re all familiar with Don Young.”
The often irritable Young’s colleagues on all sides of the aisle admired his sense of humour and friendship.
When the 117th Congress opened on Jan. 3, 2021, as the House member with the longest service, Young swore in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, three days before the tragic attack on the Capitol by supporters of departing President Donald Trump. Young voiced his displeasure with the period’s politics before giving the oath of office.
“Let’s sit down and have a drink and fix those difficulties when you do have a problem or if there’s anything so controversial,” he remarked, prompting laughs and applause.
Young’s “reverence and commitment to the House shined through in all he did,” Pelosi said in a statement. “An institution in the sacred halls of Congress,” she said.
Young stated that he wished to leave a legacy of service to the people. He listed approval of legislation allowing for the building of the trans-Alaska pipeline system, which became the state’s economic lifeblood, as one of his career accomplishments during his first year in office. “I discovered a place in my life where I like working for the people of Alaska and our nation — mainly the people of Alaska,” Young said in 2016, later adding, “I like the House.”
During his tenure, he stood firm in his support for earmarks as a method to bring projects home and improve infrastructure in a vast state with populations ranging from large cities to small towns; others dismissed earmarks as pork.
Young said he didn’t take it for granted that voters kept sending him back to Washington.
In 2016, he noted, “Alaskans have been generous with their support for me because they know I get the job done.” “I’ll protect my state until my last breath, and they’re well aware of it.”