Donald Edwin Young (June 9, 1933 – March 18, 2022) was an American politician from Alaska. He is the longest-serving Republican in House history, having been the U.S. representative for the state's at-large congressional district for 49 years, from 1973 until his death in 2022.
Born and raised in California, Young moved to Alaska in 1959 after a stint in the U.S. Army. He worked various careers, including sailing and teaching, in the small city of Fort Yukon, where he was elected mayor in 1964. He entered state politics two years later, when he won a seat in the Alaska House of Representatives, and advanced to the Alaska Senate in 1970. In 1972, he ran for a seat in the House of Representatives against incumbent Democrat Nick Begich. Weeks before the election, Begich disappeared and was presumed dead in a plane crash, though he still (likely posthumously) won the vote. Young ran in a special election to fill the vacant post the following year, defeating Democrat Emil Notti. He was re-elected to the seat 24 times.
In Congress, Young chaired the House Resources Committee from 1995 to 2001 and the House Transportation Committee from 2001 to 2007. The Associated Press said that he was known for his "brusque" and "off-color" demeanor, and The New York Times described him as having "cultivated the image of a rugged frontiersman"; his prominent personality, long tenure, and position as his state's sole House member led to him occasionally being dubbed "Alaska's third senator".
Young became the 45th dean of the United States House of Representatives in December 2017, after John Conyers resigned. He was the first Republican in that office in more than 84 years.
Early life, education, and teaching career
Donald Edwin Young was born on June 9, 1933, in Meridian, Sutter County, California, the second of three sons of Russell Lawhead "Cy" Young Sr. and Arlene Marcella Bucy. He earned an associate's degree in education from Yuba College in 1952 and a bachelor's degree from Chico State College in 1958. He served in the Army from 1955 to 1957.
Young moved to Alaska in 1959, not long after it became a state. He settled in Fort Yukon, then a village of 700 on the Yukon River, seven miles above the Arctic Circle in Alaska's central interior region. He made a living in construction, fishing, trapping, and gold mining. He captained a tugboat and ran a barge operation to deliver products and supplies to villages along the Yukon River. At the time of his death, Young still held his mariner's license. During winters, he taught fifth grade at the local Bureau of Indian Affairs elementary school.
Early political career
Young's political career began in 1964, when he was elected mayor of Fort Yukon, serving until 1968. He ran for the Alaska House of Representatives in 1964, but finished tenth, with the top seven candidates being elected for the multi-member district.
He was elected to the State House in 1966 and reelected in 1968. Young served in the Alaska House of Representatives from 1967 to 1971.
He said he "loved" the job before he "got ambitious" and ran for the Alaska Senate in 1970. He served in the Alaska Senate from 1971 to 1973. He was elected to the two-member District I alongside long-serving Republican State Senator John Butrovich. He said he "hated" the state senate. After encouragement from his first wife, he ran for Congress in 1972. Young won again in 2018, against candidate Alyse Galvin, whose party was undeclared, taking 52.6% of the vote.
Young was the most senior U.S. representative and, after Jim Sensenbrenner retired, the last member who had been in office since the 1970s. He was the second-highest-ranking Republican on the Natural Resources and Transportation and Infrastructure committees. He chaired the former from 1995 to 2001 and the latter from 2001 to 2007.
Young was the subject of an extensive FBI investigation but was not charged with wrongdoing. He was subsequently the subject of a House Ethics Committee probe.
1972–1974
thumb|right|Young with President [[Richard Nixon and Jack Coghill in 1973]]
thumb|right|Young with President [[Gerald Ford and U.S. Senator Ted Stevens in 1975]]
Democratic State Senator Nick Begich was elected to the House of Representatives in 1970 to succeed Republican Howard Pollock, who ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination for governor of Alaska. Young ran against Begich in 1972 and placed second in the August 22 open primary with 13,958 votes (25.60%) to Begich's 37,873 (69.45%). Begich was lost in a plane crash on October 16, 1972 (along with House Majority Leader Hale Boggs of Louisiana), 22 days before the general election. Although his body was never found, Begich won the general election with 53,651 votes (56.24%) to Young's 41,750 (43.76%). He was declared dead on December 29.
Young ran in the special election on March 6, 1973, and defeated Democrat Emil Notti, 35,044 votes (51.41%) to 33,123 (48.59%). He won a full term in 1974 with 51,641 votes (53.84%) to Democratic State Senator Willie Hensley's 44,280 (46.16%). He was sworn into the House of Representatives on March 14, 1973. He credited his victory to his leadership of the fight for the Trans-Alaskan Pipeline System.
1976–2006
thumb|right|Young greeting President [[Ronald Reagan in 1981]]
thumb|right|Young greeting President [[George H. W. Bush in 1991]]
thumb|right|Young watches as President [[George W. Bush signs the Magnuson–Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Reauthorization Act of 2006.]]
thumb|right|Young watches as President [[Donald Trump signs The Frank LoBiondo Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2018.]]
Young was reelected with at least 55% of the vote in each of the next seven elections. He defeated former State Senator Eben Hopson with 71% of the vote in 1976, State Senator Patrick Rodey with 55.4% of the vote in 1978, Kevin "Pat" Parnell with 73.8% of the vote in 1980, and Dave Carlson with 70.8% of the vote in 1982.
In 1984 and 1986, Young defeated Nick Begich's widow, Pegge Begich, 113,582 votes (55.02%) to 86,052 (41.68%), and 101,799 votes (56.47%) to 74,053 (41.08%), respectively. He defeated Peter Gruenstein with 62.5% of the vote in 1988 and then faced John Devens, the mayor of Valdez, in 1990 and 1992. Young defeated him by 99,003 votes (51.66%) to 91,677 (47.84%) in 1990 and then faced a serious challenge in 1992. He was challenged in the Republican primary by State Senator Virginia M. Collins and defeated her by 24,869 votes (52.98%) to 19,774 (42.12%). In the general election, he defeated Devens, 111,849 votes (46.78%) to 102,378 (42.82%). This was both the lowest winning percentage of his career and the only time he won without a majority of the vote.
Young defeated former Alaska Commissioner of Economic Development and 1992 Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Tony Smith with 56.92% of the vote in 1994, State Senator Georgianna Lincoln with 59.41% of the vote in 1996, and State Senator and former Speaker of the Alaska House of Representatives Jim Duncan with 62.55% of the vote in 1998. He defeated attorney Clifford Mark Greene with 69.56% of the vote in 2000 and with 74.66% of the vote in 2002, the largest winning percentage of his career. He received 213,216 votes (71.34%) against Thomas Higgins in 2004, the most votes he ever received in a single election. In 2006, he defeated writer, dramatist, and video production consultant Diane E. Benson with 56.57% of the vote.
2008
Incumbent Lieutenant Governor Sean Parnell announced his candidacy in the August 26 Republican primary. Parnell was strongly supported by Governor Sarah Palin and the Club for Growth. Young was endorsed by Mike Huckabee's political action committee, Huck PAC, in June.
Young won by 304 votes (0.28%), and Parnell declined to seek a recount. Before the announcement of the unofficial results, both candidates had said that they would request a recount if they lost. The state of Alaska pays the costs of recounts when the difference is within a half percent, as it was in this primary election.
Young faced a challenge from Democrat Ethan Berkowitz, the 46-year-old former minority leader in the Alaska House of Representatives. Don Wright, the Alaskan Independence Party nominee, also challenged Young. Young was reelected with 50% of the vote to Berkowitz's 45% and Wright's 5%. Berkowitz conceded on November 18.
2010–2020
In 2010, Young ran for a 20th term. He was challenged in the Republican primary by John R. Cox and Sheldon Fisher, a former telecommunications executive, winning with 74,117 votes (70.36%). He defeated Democratic State Representative Harry Crawford in the general election, 175,384 votes (68.96%) to 77,606 (30.51%).
In 2012, Young drew two challengers in the Republican party, but defeated them with 58,789 votes (78.59%). In the general election, he defeated State Representative Sharon Cissna by 185,296 votes (63.94%) to 82,927 (28.62%).
In 2014, Young received 79,393 votes (74.29%) in the Republican primary against three challengers. In the general election, he defeated Democrat Forrest Dunbar, 142,572 votes (50.97%) to 114,602 (40.97%). Young was the only statewide incumbent in Alaska to win reelection that year, as Republican Governor Sean Parnell was defeated by Independent Bill Walker, and Democratic U.S. Senator Mark Begich was defeated by Republican Dan Sullivan.
In 2016, Young received 38,998 votes (71.5%) in the Republican primary against three challengers. In the general election, he won with 50.32% of the vote against Democratic challenger Steve Lindbeck with 36.02% and Libertarian Jim McDermott with 10.31%.
In 2018, Young defeated Alyse Galvin, an Independent candidate who had won the combined Alaska Democratic Party, Alaska Libertarian Party and Alaskan Independence Party primary. He received 53.08% of the vote to Galvin's 46.5%.
In 2020, Young ran for a 25th term. He won the Republican primary with 77% of the vote in a three-way race. In the general election, Young again defeated combined-ticket nominee Alyse Galvin with 54.4% of the vote.
Tenure
At the start of the 116th Congress, Young was the longest-serving current House member. Due to his long tenure in the House and that of former Senator Ted Stevens, Alaska was considered to have had clout in national politics far beyond its small population (it is the 4th smallest, ahead of only North Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming). He was often called "Alaska's third senator". On March 5, 2019, he became the longest-serving Republican in congressional history, surpassing Joe Cannon.
1990s
thumb|right|Young in the 1990s
After the 1995 Republican takeover of the House, Young chaired the Committee on Natural Resources, which he renamed the Committee on Resources. The name was changed back by Democrats in 2006 and has since been retained by Republican chairs. He chaired the committee until 2001, then chairing the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure from 2001 to 2007.
During a 1994 House debate touching on the question of Alaska Natives' right to sell sex organs of endangered animals as aphrodisiacs, he pulled out an 18-inch penis bone of a walrus, better known as an "oosik", and brandished it like a sword on the House floor at the face of the head of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
In March 1998, Young brought a bill to the House floor allowing voters in Puerto Rico to vote on continuing its commonwealth status or becoming either a state or independent. The legislation passed by a single vote.
2000–2010
thumb|right|Young in 2006
In the 2005 Highway Bill, Young helped secure $941 million for 119 special projects, including a $231 million bridge in Anchorage named Don Young's Way.
In 2007, Young was investigated as a part of the Alaska political corruption probe for his ties to the oil and gas company VECO Corporation. He faced no charges.
In July 2007, Representative Scott Garrett proposed an amendment to strike money in a spending bill for native Alaskan and Hawaiian educational programs. Young defended the funds on the House floor, saying, "You want my money, my money"
In 2010, when Democrat Charles Rangel of New York was censured for ethical violations, Young and Representative Peter T. King were the only two Republicans voting against censure.
2011–2020
In the 112th Congress, Young signed Americans for Tax Reform's Taxpayer Protection Pledge.
In 2012, Young endorsed then-Representative Mazie Hirono in the Democratic primary for the United States Senate.
In March 2013, the House Ethics Committee created a special committee to investigate allegations that Young had improperly accepted gifts, used campaign funds for personal expenses, failed to report gifts in financial disclosure documents, and made false statements to federal officials. Young said, "it will go forever. I've been under a cloud all my life. I'm sort of like living in Juneau. It rains on you all the time. You don't even notice it." In 2014, the committee rebuked Young after finding he had failed to disclose gifts totaling over $60,000 between 2001 and 2013.
In March 2013, Young used the ethnic slur "wetbacks" during a radio interview to describe Latino migrants who worked at his father's ranch when he was growing up. He issued a statement later that day saying that he "meant no disrespect" and that he "used a term that was commonly used during my days growing up on a farm in central California". Young later formally apologized for his remarks, saying, "I apologize for the insensitive term" and that "it was a poor choice of words."
thumb|right|Young and Rep. [[Tulsi Gabbard speaking in support of the Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act in 2019]]
In May 2016, Young wrote a letter to the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives stating that for 25 years he had failed to disclose his inherited interest in a family farm in California on which he and other family members had signed oil and gas leases; Young said the omissions to his financial reporting were accidental.
On May 4, 2017, though he had indicated two months earlier that he would oppose repeal of the Affordable Care Act, he voted for its repeal. Governor Bill Walker said Alaska "would be the most negatively affected if the proposed legislation is signed into law as is. Alaskans already pay the highest health care premiums in the country." U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski opposed the removal of the provision in the act that eliminated discrimination against those with preexisting conditions, saying it was not "what Alaskans are telling me they think is an acceptable response." It was estimated that annual policy costs for coverage under the state's exchange would rise by $12,599.
In 2017, former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives John Boehner told Politico that Young had once pinned him against a wall inside the House and held a 10-inch knife to his throat.
In September 2017, during a House floor debate on an amendment to the 2018 government spending package for wildlife management and national preserves in Alaska, Young made critical comments about Representative Pramila Jayapal, including calling the 51-year old Jayapal "young lady" and saying that she "doesn't know a damn thing what she's talking about" and that her speech on the amendment "was really nonsense. It was written by an interest group". The exchange led to a temporary suspension of proceedings: upon their resumption, Young acknowledged in an address to the floor that his comments were "out of order" and apologized to Jayapal; she accepted.
Georgetown University's McCourt School of Public Policy rated Young among the most bipartisan members of Congress for the 115th and 116th Congresses.
2021–2022
On May 19, 2021, Young introduced H.R.3361, the United States Ambassador at Large for Arctic Affairs Act of 2021, which would create a presidentially appointed and Senate-confirmed Ambassador at Large for Arctic Affairs who would represent the U.S. in matters relating to the Arctic before international bodies of which the U.S. is a member, foreign nations, and multilateral negotiations. No votes have been held on the bill. On November 5, 2021, Young was among the 13 House Republicans to break with their party and vote with a majority of Democrats for the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Former president Donald Trump castigated the 13 House Republicans who voted for the bill.
At the time of his death, he was the oldest and longest-tenured member of Congress.
Committee assignments
- Committee on Natural Resources
- Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands
- Subcommittee on Indigenous Peoples of the United States (Ranking Member)
- Subcommittee on Water, Oceans and Wildlife
- Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
- Congressional Cannabis Caucus
- Congressional Unmanned Systems Caucus
- House Biomedical Research Caucus
- House Diabetes Caucus
- Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Caucus
- Sportsmen's Caucus
- Congressional Cement Caucus
- Congressional Western Caucus
Political positions
thumb|Congressman Donald Young visits the installation for the [[F-35 community showcase at Eielson Air Force Base.]]
Abortion
Young believed that abortion should be legal only when the pregnancy is a result of incest or rape or when a woman's life is endangered by her pregnancy. Young's views on abortion were largely anti-abortion during his congressional career: he voted for the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act while making exception for maternal endangerment and favored stripping federal funds from Planned Parenthood. On the other hand, Young did not oppose using embryonic stem cells in scientific research.
Arctic oil drilling
When then-U.S. president Donald Trump signed an executive order that rolled back Obama-era restrictions on Arctic oil drilling, Young commended Trump for "recognizing the importance of development in the Arctic OCS".
The Arctic Refuge drilling controversy repeatedly brought Young into the national spotlight. He was a longstanding supporter of opening lands within the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration. He included provisions to that effect in 12 bills that have passed the House, but environmentalists concerned with the impact of road-building, pipelines and other development on the Arctic tundra landscape blocked these efforts.
Arts funding
Young questioned public funding of the arts, but in his later years supported legislation increasing funding for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).
At an assembly at Fairbanks' West Valley High School in 1995, Young was answering questions about cutting federal funding for the arts. He said that such funding had "photographs of people doing offensive things", and "things that are absolutely ridiculous." When asked for an example, Young quickly replied "buttfucking", in reference to Robert Mapplethorpe's photographic exhibition The Perfect Moment. After receiving criticism for the use of that obscenity, Young explained his choice of words by saying he had tried "to educate" teens.
Bridges
"Bridge to Nowhere"
In 2005, Young and Stevens earmarked $223 million for building the Gravina Island Bridge from Ketchikan to Gravina Island, which also contains Ketchikan's airport. The bridge would be used for access by emergency vehicles, as well as passengers, and to facilitate transport to a proposed for-profit prison. There is a small ferry for cars and passengers that travels the crossing in three to seven minutes and runs every half-hour. Critics assailed this as pork barrel spending at taxpayers' expense and The New York Times quoted Keith Ashdown, spokesman for the Taxpayers for Common Sense: "It's a gold-plated bridge to nowhere." "At a time when we have bridges and roads crumbling around the United States, and traffic congestion worse than ever, why build a $200 million project that will serve only a few hundred people?" The Gravina Island Bridge was awarded a Golden Fleece Award by that organization in 2003. After criticism from citizens and others in Congress, lawmakers de-funded the bridge and instead funneled the money to the Alaska Department of Transportation, allowing the governor of Alaska to build the Gravina Island Highway after the Alaska legislature funded the project with the directed monies.
Knik Arm bridge
The Knik Arm Bridge that was earmarked in the bill would connect Anchorage to Point Mackenzie, a lightly populated area in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough that is less than four miles (6 km) across Cook Inlet from downtown Anchorage. Anchorage is accessible from Point Mackenzie only by an route around Knik Arm, some of which was an unimproved road. The demise of this second bridge project had been suggested for years.
Part of the concern about the bridge was that if it were built, it would significantly enhance the value of property in which Young's son-in-law owned an interest. Young was listed as the third-worst congressman by Rolling Stone, and dubbed "Mr. Pork" due to his involvement in the Gravina Island "Bridge to Nowhere". Other legislation Young introduced includes the CARERS Act in 2015 (to reschedule cannabis under the Controlled Substances Act) and the SAFE Banking Act in 2017 (to improve access to banking services for cannabis businesses). In February 2017, Young launched the Congressional Cannabis Caucus with Representatives Earl Blumenauer, Dana Rohrabacher, and Jared Polis. He toured several cannabis facilities in Alaska in October 2019.
In 2020, Young was one of only five House Republicans to vote for the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act. The act aimed to "correct the historical injustices of failed drug policies that have disproportionately impacted communities of color"; it included provisions to remove cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act, impose a federal tax on cannabis products, and use the proceeds of the tax to fund restorative justice programs.
In 2021, Young introduced the Gun Rights and Marijuana (GRAM) Act to allow the ownership of firearms by people who use cannabis in accordance with state law. Also in 2021, Young introduced the Cannabis Reform for Veterans, Small Businesses, and Medical Professionals Act to remove cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act and direct federal agencies to develop regulations for cannabis similar to alcohol. Later in 2021 he was one of four original cosponsors of the Republican-led States Reform Act to legalize cannabis federally.
Civil liberties
Young voted for the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, which provided reparations for Japanese Americans imprisoned by the U.S. government during World War II. He attended Reagan's official signing ceremony for the bill. Young also voted for the Civil Rights Act of 1991, which clarified the 1964 civil rights act in response to several controversial U.S. Supreme Court cases.