Mark Peter Begich ( BEGG-itch; born March 30, 1962) is an American politician and lobbyist who served as a United States senator from Alaska from 2009 to 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as mayor of Anchorage from 2003 to 2009. As of 2026, he is the most recent Democrat to serve Alaska in the U.S. Senate.
Begich was born in Anchorage, making him the first US Senator native to the state. He is the son of former US Representative Nick Begich Sr. He was elected to the Anchorage Assembly at the age of 26. He eventually served as chairman for three years, before leaving the Assembly in 1998. Begich ran two unsuccessful campaigns for Mayor of Anchorage in 1994 and 2000 before being elected in 2003. He was reelected in 2006. In the 2008 Senate election, Begich narrowly defeated incumbent Ted Stevens, at the time the longest-serving Republican member of the US Senate. His victory as a Democrat in Republican-dominated Alaska was largely considered an upset, owing to a guilty verdict for seven counts of false statements during a 7-year investigation by the Department Of Justice.
In the 2014 Senate election, Begich was narrowly defeated in his bid for reelection by former Alaska Attorney General Dan Sullivan. Following completion of his term in the US Senate, Begich started Anchorage-based consulting firm Northern Compass Group. On June 1, 2018, Begich announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for Governor of Alaska in the 2018 election, facing off against Republican nominee and former state senator Mike Dunleavy. He lost the gubernatorial election by a margin of seven percentage points.
Early life, education, and early political career
Begich was born and raised in Anchorage, Alaska. He is the son of Margaret Jean "Pegge" (née Jendro) and former US Representative Nick Begich. His father disappeared in October 1972 during a small plane flight from Anchorage to Juneau, Alaska with then-US House Majority Leader Hale Boggs, but was reelected the next month, while missing, before both were declared legally dead.
The fourth of six children, he has two sisters and three brothers. His paternal grandparents were Croatian; his paternal grandfather, John Begich, immigrated to the United States from Croatia (then part of the empire of Austria-Hungary) in 1911. His mother had Polish, Bohemian (Czech), Dutch, and English ancestry. He attended Steller Secondary School in Anchorage. As an adolescent, he opened an 18-and-under club called "The Motherlode". At the age of 18, he had obtained a business license to sell jewelry and was helping his mother manage a number of real estate properties. Because of his business opportunities, he decided not to go to college.
His mother, who had filled her late husband's seat in a 1973 special election, ran twice against longtime Congressional Representative Don Young in the 1980s, losing both times.
At the age of 19, Begich started working in the Anchorage city health department and later worked as a driver for then-Anchorage Mayor Tony Knowles. During the 1988 legislative session, Begich worked as a legislative aide for State Representative Dave Donley. Begich was elected to the Anchorage Assembly in 1988, at age 26, and served until 1998, including three years as chairman and two as vice chairman.
Begich served for a number of years on the Alaska Commission on Postsecondary Education, including as its chair. In 2001, Governor Tony Knowles appointed Begich to the University of Alaska Board of Regents, but the legislature did not confirm the appointment.
Begich ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 1994 against Rick Mystrom and in 2000 against then‑Assemblyman George Wuerch. In the 2003 mayoral race, he narrowly defeated both Mystrom and Wuerch, receiving only 11 votes more than the 45‑percent threshold required to avoid a runoff under a law approved simultaneously with the election.
He was reelected in April 2006, defeating local advertising and radio personality Jack Frost. Although the office is officially nonpartisan, Begich became the first Democrat to serve as Mayor of the Municipality of Anchorage since Tony Knowles.
Begich was a member of the pro-gun-control group Mayors Against Illegal Guns. Begich left the group in 2007.
On February 27, 2008, Begich announced that he was forming an exploratory committee to run for the United States Senate. After winning the Democratic nomination, he went on to face Republican incumbent Ted Stevens in the general election. Begich was ahead in polls prior to the election. During the campaign, Stevens faced a multiple count indictment on ethics and corruption charges.
On October 27, 2008, eight days before the general election, Stevens was found guilty by a Washington D.C. federal jury on seven felony counts.
Stevens's conviction was later set aside due to prosecutorial misconduct. Attorney General Eric Holder later declined to retry Stevens on the corruption charges.
In April 2009, Alaska Republican Party chairman Randy Ruedrich issued a call for Begich to resign so a special election could be held. Despite the fact that the charges had been brought under President George W. Bush, Ruedrich argued that Begich's win was illegitimate because of "improper influence from the corrupt Department of Justice." The same day Governor Sarah Palin seconded Ruedrich's call, although she later denied having said Begich should resign. Begich said he intended to serve his full six-year term.
On November 18, 2008, the Associated Press called the election for Begich, who was leading and likely to win by more than the 0.5% margin needed to trigger an automatic recount, with the remainder of uncounted ballots originating from the Anchorage area. Stevens conceded the race the next day.
Begich's victory made him Alaska's first Democratic US Senator since Mike Gravel left office in 1981.