Mark Begich

Mark Begich (2012)

Mark Peter Begich (born March 30, 1962 in Anchorage , Alaska ) is an American politician of the Democratic Party . Begich was US Senator for the state of Alaska from 2009 to 2015 . He was previously a member of his state's House of Representatives and mayor of the capital, Anchorage. He applied for the governorship of Alaska in 2018 .

Family, education and work

Mark Begich's ancestors on his father's side came from Croatia , those of his mother from Bohemia . He grew up in Anchorage, the fourth of six children. His parents, Pegge and Nick Begich , immigrated to Alaska from Minnesota in 1957 as teachers . His father was a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1971 until he was killed in a plane crash in October 1972. Mark Begich was ten years old at the time. His mother competed twice without success against his father's Republican successor, Don Young , in the 1980s . After attending Steller Secondary School in Anchorage, Mark Begich completed non-graduate courses at the University of Alaska Anchorage . He got his first business license at age 14, made and sold jewelry, and opened a club for teenagers at age 16. When he was 19, he began working for the Anchorage Health Administration and became a driver for Mayor Tony Knowles . He helped his mother manage family apartment buildings and later worked as a freelancer in the real estate business and selling vending machines. He was also a member of the advisory boards of the University of Alaska (2001/02), the Alaska Student Loan Corporation (1995-2002) and the Alaska Commission of Post-Secondary Education (1995-2002); he was the latter from 1996 to 2002.

Begich has been married to small business owner Deborah Bonito since 1990, who is also a member of the Democratic Party and temporarily headed its regional party organization in Alaska. Both became parents of a son in July 2002. They live in Washington, DC Nick's brother Tom Begich is a Democrat member of the Alaska Senate , and his uncle Joe Begich was a member of the Minnesota House of Representatives .

Political career

State-level beginnings

Begich became politically active at an early age and joined the Democratic Party in his early twenties. In 1988, at the age of 26, he was elected to the Alaska House of Representatives, of which he was a member until 1998. For three of these years he was its spokesman, two more its deputy.

Begich was defeated in the election of Mayor of Anchorage in 1994 and 2000, in 1994 to the Republican Rick Mystrom and in 2000 to his party colleague George Wuerch . In 2003 Begich ran again for the mayor's office of Anchorage and won with 45 percent of the votes ahead of his opponents Mystrom (37%) and Wuerch (15%). He was the first mayor of the city to be born and raised there. During his tenure, he reduced debt and increased the number of police officers significantly, resulting in lower violent crime rates. He initiated the expansion of the port and the city center with heated sidewalks and the construction of a meeting center.

Senator for Alaska

In the 2008 election, Begich ran for a seat in the United States Senate in Washington, DC.While he received 90.6% of the vote in the internal Democratic primary , he ran in the main election campaign against long-time Republican mandate holder Ted Stevens , who as a former Chairman of the grant committee held a powerful position, especially since Alaska is structurally dominated by the Republic. Begich benefited from the fact that Stevens had been convicted of corruption during the campaign; Nevertheless, he led a sober, topic-related election campaign and abstained from criticizing his opponent. The election was so close that it was only two weeks later, in mid-November 2008, that the result was certain. Begich got 47.6 percent of the vote, Stevens 46.6 percent, a lead of 3,724 votes. Begich was the second Democrat in Alaska to win a seat in Washington - after his father - and the first Democratic Senator for Alaska since Mike Gravel in 1981. He won particularly in rural areas, for which he was already mayor during his time had made strong.

In the Senate, Begich was the only person without a college degree. He was a member of five committees, including notably the major grants committee, which is responsible for distributing federal subsidies to underdeveloped Alaska, and the committees on trade, research and transportation , homeland security , and Indian and veterans affairs . Among other things, Begich succeeded in stabilizing health care for indigenous people (Indian Health Care Act) and improving the care of veterans with mental illnesses. In 2011 Begich became chairman of the Democratic Steering and Outreach Committee and thus became part of the leadership of his party in the Senate.

In the 2014 Senate election, Begich lost to Republican challenger Dan Sullivan with 46 to 48 percent of the vote and left Congress on January 3, 2015. During the election campaign, the popular Begich was troubled by the great dissatisfaction with US President Obama in Alaska. He had tried in vain to portray himself as a team with fellow Republican senator Lisa Murkowski in order to emphasize his non-partisanship; instead, there was sharp rejection and a public argument with Murkowski.

After the Senate and running for gubernatorial

Shortly after his defeat, he set up a policy advisory firm in Alaska that advises healthcare companies and a regional airline. He was also committed to the Indians of his state and remained visible in federal politics, including as chairman of the Foundation for Hospice and Homecare and as an advisor to the lobbyist firm Brownstein Hyatt. He was discussed as a candidate for mayor in Anchorage in 2015 and as a possible challenger to Republican Murkowski in the 2016 Senate election .

In the election in 2018 Begich went for the office of governor of Alaska and was the only candidate in the area code of his party. The incumbent governor, the Independent Bill Walker , withdrew his readiness to run in the Democratic primary after Begich's announcement and instead ran directly for the main election with his Democratic lieutenant governor Byron Mallott . As a result, there was fierce competition between Begich, Walker, and Republican candidate Mike J. Dunleavy , increasing the Republican's chances. On October 19, 2018, Governor Walker surprisingly announced that he would give up his candidacy and support Begich's application. Walker gave the reason that he could not win the election against Begich and Republican Dunleavy. Begich lost to Dunleavy in the main election. He received 44% of the votes cast, Dunleavy 53.

Positions

Begich represents a left-liberal line in many socio-political issues (American “ liberal ”); For example, he supports the mother 's right to self-determination ( Pro-Choice ) in the case of abortion, even at a later stage of pregnancy, advocated marriage of homosexuals from 2013 and advocated the legalization of cannabis use. Begich fundamentally rejects the death penalty; he campaigns against the civil rights restrictions and surveillance measures resulting from the USA PATRIOT Act . Begich advocates a comprehensive immigration reform which, in addition to stronger border security, provides illegal immigrants with the opportunity to acquire citizenship of the United States. He supports a health reform that provides more people with health insurance, voted - despite later distancing himself - for Obamacare and advocates the promotion of renewable energies to combat climate change . At the same time he deviates from the party line on a number of issues; He has spoken out against restrictions on gun ownership and for oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge .

Web links

Commons : Mark Begich  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Mark Begich in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• Mark Begich's Biography. In: Vote Smart (English)
• Sen. Mark Begich. In: Govtrack (English)
• Mark Begich. In: Ballotpedia (English)
• Begich, Mark. In: Our Campaigns (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Linda Tyssen: Joe Begich is still giving the Iron Range some color. In: Mesabi Daily News , September 9, 2017; Miloslav Rechcigl, Jr .: Encyclopedia of Bohemian and Czech-American Biography. Volume 1. AuthorHouse, Bloomington, IN 2016, p. 297 (e-book) .
2. ^ ^{A b c} Henry J. Reske: 10 Things You Didn't Know About Mark Begich. In: US News & World Report , March 5, 2009.
3. ^ ^{A b} Eliot Nelson: Alaska Is At A Crossroads. Can Mark Begich Keep It From Falling Apart? In: The Huffington Post , Jan 25, 2014.
4. ^ Begich, Mark, (1962-). In: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
5. ↑ ^{a b c} Manu Raju: Begich's big decision: Challenge Murkowski? In: Politico , May 6, 2015; Mark Begich's Biography. In: Vote Smart.
6. ↑ Senator Tom Begich. In: The Alaska State Legislature ; Begich, Joseph R. In: Minnesota Legislative Reference Library. See also Begich family of Anchorage, Alaska. In: Political Graveyard.
7. ^ ^{A b c} William Yardley: Alaska's New Senator Sees Change at Work. In: The New York Times , December 4, 2008.
8. ↑ Kim Murphy: Begich ends low-key approach. In: Los Angeles Times , November 20, 2008.
9. ↑ Senator Stevens, convicted of corruption, voted out of office. In: Der Standard , November 19, 2008.
10. ↑ Miloslav Rechcigl, Jr .: Encyclopedia of Bohemian and Czech-American Biography. Volume 1. AuthorHouse, Bloomington, IN 2016, p. 297 (e-book) .
11. ↑ Becky Bohrer: Republican Dan Sullivan wins Senate race in Alaska. In: Associated Press , Nov. 12, 2014.
12. ^ Nathaniel Herz: Begich unveils consulting firm, will work in aviation and health care. In: Alaska Dispatch News , Jan. 31, 2015.
13. ^ Sean Sullivan: Why Mark Begich could run for the Senate again. In: The Washington Post , February 2, 2015.
14. ↑ Ex-US senator's entry causes angst in Alaska governor's race. ( Memento of July 24, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) In: KTOO.org , July 4, 2018.
15. ↑ Caroline Kelly: Alaska Gov. Bill Walker suspends re-election bid. In: CNN.com , October 20, 2018.
16. ↑ Elise Viebeck: Can abortion rights push pay off in Alaska? In: The Hill , August 15, 2014.
17. ^ Justin Sink: Begich latest senator to endorse gay marriage. In: The Hill , March 26, 2013.
18. ↑ John T. Radzilowski: Alaska. In: Kathleen R. Arnold (Ed.): Contemporary Immigration in America: A State-by-State Encyclopedia. Volume 1. Greenwood Publishing, Santa Barbara, CA, Denver, Oxford 2015, pp. 19-38, here p. 35 .
19. ↑ Seth McLaughlin: Crossroads GPS hits Mark Begich's Obamacare support. In: The Washington Times , June 17, 2014.
20. ↑ Kim Murphy: Begich ends low-key approach. In: Los Angeles Times , November 20, 2008. For Begich's change in whether gun buyers should undergo mandatory security checks, see A Fourth Mayor Quits Bloomberg Anti-Gun Group. In: The New York Sun , March 15, 2007.