Don Young, Alaska Republican and Dean of the House, has died

“It’s with heavy hearts and deep sadness that we announce Congressman Don Young (R-AK), the Dean of the House and revered champion for Alaska, passed away today while traveling home to Alaska to be with the state and people that he loved,” the statement said. “His beloved wife Anne was by his side.”

Young was reelected in 2020 to serve his 25th term as the only representative from Alaska. He was the longest-serving member of the current Congress.

Young was first sworn into Congress after winning a special election on March 6, 1973.

The congressman’s office remembered him as a “fierce defender of Alaska,” writing that “from the Trans-Alaska pipeline, to the Ketchikan Shipyard, to the Magnuson Stevens Act, which transformed the American fishing industry, to the numerous land exchanges he fought for, Don Young’s legacy cannot be overstated.”