Benjamin Nageak facts for kids

Benjamin P. Nageak was born on March 26, 1950. He is an American politician and a member of the Democratic Party. He served in the Alaska House of Representatives from 2013 to 2017. He represented District 40 in Alaska.

Benjamin Nageak's Political Journey

Serving the North Slope Borough

In the 1990s, Benjamin Nageak began his political career. He was elected to the assembly of the North Slope Borough. A borough is like a county in other states. It's a local government area.

After serving for one year on the assembly, he was elected as the mayor of the North Slope Borough. He held this important position for three years, from 1996 to 1999.

Before running for the Alaska House of Representatives in 2012, Nageak worked as a special assistant. He helped the mayor of the North Slope Borough, Charlotte Brower.

Representing Alaska in the House

In 2012, Benjamin Nageak decided to run for a seat in the Alaska House of Representatives. This is where laws are made for the state of Alaska. The person who held the seat before him, Reggie Joule, decided not to run again.

Nageak won the first election, called the Democratic Primary, in August 2012. He then won the main election in November 2012. He became the representative for District 40. Even though he was a Democrat, he chose to work with the Republican majority in the House. This means he worked with the larger group of politicians.

In 2014, Nageak ran for re-election. He won the Democratic primary against Dean Westlake. He then ran unopposed in the general election, meaning no one ran against him. So, he continued to serve.

A Close Election in 2016

In 2016, Benjamin Nageak faced Dean Westlake again in the Democratic primary election. It was a very close race. At first, it looked like Nageak had lost by a small number of votes.

A recount was done to check the votes again. This recount showed that Nageak had lost by only four votes. He decided to challenge these results. After another review, Westlake's lead grew to eight votes.

Nageak took his challenge to a judge in Anchorage. The judge made a decision that gave Nageak a two-vote victory. However, this decision was then appealed to the state's highest court, the Alaska Supreme Court.

The Alaska Supreme Court disagreed with the judge's decision. They ruled that Dean Westlake was the winner of the election. This meant Benjamin Nageak's time in the Alaska House of Representatives ended in 2017.