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Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor and 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee, became the latest GOP politician to ask to debate Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
In a Fox News interview Monday night, Palin said she would like to debate the New York Democrat were she to join the New York Democrat in the House after winning her Alaska congressional race in June.
Fox News host Jesse Watters teed Palin up by asking "what it might be like passing AOC in the hallway," adding "I'm sure you'll be very, very polite."
"I would be very polite, and I would beg her to debate me, please, AOC," Palin said, "On education, on capitalism, on how to run a business, on our nation's security, on what it takes to be energy independent again, in order to be solvent and sovereign ... Oh gosh, I want to debate her."
—Acyn (@Acyn) April 4, 2022
Other Republican politicians, including Reps. Lauren Boebert of Colorado and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, have previously called to debate the progressive lawmaker.
The New York congresswoman has not taken up either member on their offer, nor other conservative figures such as Daily Wire co-founder Ben Shapiro, who offered Ocasio-Cortez $10,000 to debate him. Ocasio-Cortez accused Shapiro of harassing her with his repeated requests for a debate.
"I don't owe a response to unsolicited requests from men with bad intentions," she tweeted back in August 2018. "And also like catcalling, for some reason they feel entitled to one."
A spokesperson for Ocasio-Cortez did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
Palin is running in a special election to replace the late Rep. Don Young of Alaska's lone congressional district. Young died on March 18 at the age of 88, and had been the longest serving member of Congress.
Unlike most House campaigns, June's special election will be both an open primary and feature the debut of ranked choice voting in Alaska.
The Last Frontier's new system is the result of a 2020 ballot measure voters approved. Instead of partisan primaries, there will be a top-four campaign between members of all parties — including multiple candidates from the same party — with the winning quartet appearing on the general election ballot.
The general election would also have ranked choice voting, where voters can list their preferred candidates in order and there cannot be a winner until one of them achieves a majority. Second choice votes are added to the remaining candidates totals in successive rounds where the person with the least amount of votes is eliminated. The process repeats until there's a winner with over 50% of the vote.
For Palin, the new system would not allow for the same kind of boost she could get from former President Donald Trump's endorsement, which she received just days after her announcement.
Palin's approval rating among Alaska voters stood at only 31% in a survey conducted by pollster Ivan Moore of Alaska Survey Research last October.
