Alaska Congressman Don Young Dies On Alaska Airlines Flight

Don Young, 88, the long-serving Congressman representing Alaska’s lone seat in the House of Representatives, died on Friday after losing consciousness on an Alaska Airlines flight.

Young was traveling to from Los Angeles to Seattle when he lost consciousness onboard. His wife, a nurse, and others onboard were unable to revive him. He was pronounced dead upon landing in Seattle according to his long-time aide, Jack Ferguson.

Young was the longest serving current member of Congress, having won 25 consecutive terms representing Alaska’s at-large district.

He was traveling back to Alaska to participate in a number of fundraisers ahead of November’s midterm election, where he planned to seek re-election.

Young once pulled a 10-inch knife on former Speaker of the House John Boehner after an augment over pork spending (Boehner later served as the best man at his wedding). He once told a Democratic challenger that the last person to touch him “ended up on the ground dead,”

RIP Donald Edwin Young (June 9, 1933 – March 18, 2022)