Home Updates Politics Don Young, Longest-serving Congressman, Died at 88

Don Young, Longest-serving Congressman, Died at 88

The longest-serving Republican in the history of the United States, Alaska Representative Don Young, died at 88

Don Young, Longest-serving Congressman, Died at 88

Republican Alaska Representative Don Young, the longest-serving member of the House, died at 88. His office stated that he died while he was traveling back to Alaska. However, the statement doesn’t provide details for the cause of the death. At the death time, his wife Anne was with him.

In 1973, Young was initially elected in the House and was chairman of the Transportation & Infrastructure Committee and the Natural Resources Committee. Early in his career, the GOP leader supported the oil industry of the state, starting with the Trans-Alaska pipeline. According to Young’s congressional biography, the representative advocated for lawmaking to create a two-hundred-mile fishing limit to help the fishing industry of Alaska.

Furthermore, the biography said that Young fought against federal control of lands and resources to which residents of the state are fairly entitled. Likewise, he also backed massive infrastructure and development projects for Alaska – including the infamous Bridge to Nowhere in Ketchikan, an approximately $400 million project that became a symbol of pork-barrel spending that was finally blocked.

Young’s Biography and Chamber’s Dean

In a 2018 ceremony, Young became the dean of the chamber. A representative from Michigan, John Dingell, who died in 2019, had the longest 59 years tenure in Congress while Young served almost fifty years in Congress. The GOP leader was born in California and served the U.S. military. And after graduating from Chico State College, he arrived in Alaska about the time it became the 49th American state.

Republican Don Young, Longest-serving Congressman, Died at 88
Republican Don Young, Longest-serving Congressman, Died at 88
Source: Web

Moreover, Young worked in different jobs, including teaching and construction. He also served as the Fort Yukon mayor and was a city council member from 1960 to 1968. Afterward, the longest-serving congressman became a member of the state House of Representatives (1966-1970) and the state of the Senate from 1970 to 1973. In 1972, Young ran for Congress, challenging current Democrat Nick Begich. Young had two daughters with Lu., his first wife, who died in 2009.

Leaders of both Republican and Democratic parties offered tributes after his death. Kevin McCarthy, the House Republican leader, said his decades of service touched every member and filled every room. Democratic Nancy Pelosi, the House Speaker, stated that Young’s photographs with ten presidents of both parties proudly cover the walls of the Rayburn office.

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