Nicholas Joseph Begich III ( BEH-ghitch; born October 21, 1977) is an American politician and businessman who has served as the U.S. representative for Alaska's at-large congressional district since 2025. A member of the Republican Party, he had previously run for the seat in the 2022 special and regular elections before his election in 2024.
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Early life and family
Begich was born on October 21, 1977, in Anchorage, Alaska, to Nicholas Joseph Begich Jr., an author and business owner, and Starr Lyn Weed (née Baker). He is a member of the political Begich family who have been affiliated with the Democratic Party, although he is a Republican. He is the paternal grandson of Nick Begich Sr., who served as a U.S. representative for Alaska from 1971 until his disappearance and presumed death in a plane crash in 1972. Begich Sr. had six children, including Nick Begich Jr., Mark Begich, and Tom Begich. Mark Begich served as a U.S. Senator from Alaska; Tom Begich served as the Minority Leader of the Alaska Senate.
Begich attended and graduated from The Master's Academy, a Florida high school, having moved to Florida with his maternal grandparents after his parents divorced. He received a Bachelor of Business Administration from Baylor University, Texas. Afterwards, he received a Master of Business Administration from Indiana University Bloomington.
Business career
After graduating, he founded FarShore Partners, a software development company which is mostly based in India. In 2016, it had 160 employees internationally. Begich has been business partners with Rick Desai since 2009. He was later joined by his other business partner, J.C. Garrett, in managing both FarShore Partners and Dashfire. As of 2021, he served as the company's executive chairman.
Early political career
In 2016, he ran for Seat A in District 2 (Chugiak/Eagle River) of the Anchorage City Council against Republican incumbent Amy Demboski. Begich lost, receiving 42 percent of the vote to Demboski's 58 percent.
He has served as a board member of Alaska Policy Forum, a conservative think tank. He was the co-chair of the Alaska Republican Party's Finance Committee. He served as a co-chair on Don Young's 2020 re-election campaign for the U.S. House.
U.S. House of Representatives
Elections
In October 2021, he announced his campaign to run for the Alaska's at-large U.S. House seat against incumbent Republican Don Young, who held the seat since 1972. Young died in March 2022 which led to a special election scheduled for August 16, 2022. The election was a 3-way race of Begich, former Republican Alaska Governor Sarah Palin and Democratic former state Representative Mary Peltola.
The election was the first to use Alaska's new ranked-choice voting (RCV) method, approved by voters in 2020. The winners of the top-four blanket primary advanced to the ranked-choice runoff election, but only three candidates competed (as Al Gross withdrew and endorsed Peltola). Peltola was declared the winner on August 31 after all ballots were counted. Peltola's victory was widely seen as an upset in a traditionally Republican state.
The regular 2022 Alaska's at-large U.S. House election was held on November 8. The four candidates were incumbent Peltola, Palin, Begich, and Libertarian Chris Bye. Under the rules of instant-runoff, Bye and Begich were eliminated in the first and second rounds, after they received the fewest votes. These votes were then transferred to either Peltola or Palin, depending on who the voter ranked higher on their ballot. Peltola won with 55 percent of the vote, increasing her margin from the special election.
Social choice theorists commenting on the race noted that unlike the previous special election, the general election involved few election pathologies. Peltola won the election as the majority-preferred (Condorcet) candidate, with ballots indicating support from a majority of voters.
The regular 2024 Alaska's at-large U.S. House election was held on November 5. The election coincided with the 2024 U.S. presidential election, as well as other elections to the U.S. House, elections to the United States Senate, and various other state and local elections.
The primary election was held on August 20, 2024, with candidates Mary Peltola, Nick Begich, and Republican Nancy Dahlstrom emerging as the main candidates. After placing third, Dahlstrom withdrew from the race to avoid another result like 2022 to ensure there was no center squeeze or spoiler effect, resulting in a traditional two-party race with two clear frontrunners. The four candidates were Begich, Peltola, Alaskan Independence Party candidate John Wayne Howe, and Democrat Eric Hafner.
Tenure
Begich was sworn into the U.S. House on January 3, 2025. Later that month, the U.S. House passed two of Begich's bills. The bills, which restored land rights to Alaska Native village corporations and made it easier for disabled Alaska Natives to qualify for federal aid programs, passed nearly unanimously with bipartisan support. Begich became the first freshman member of the 119th United States Congress to have a bill passed.
Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), signed into law in July 2025, Begich achieved mandated oil and gas lease sales in the Coastal Plain area of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, and Cook-Inlet, while also increasing Alaska's share of federal oil leasing revenues from the OBBBA mandated leases in Alaska from 50% to 70% starting in 2035.
Begich was not a supporter of Thomas Massie's September 2025 discharge petition to force a vote on the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which was opposed by President Trump. Following the passage of the discharge petition on November 12, and Trump's reversal to supporting the bill on November 16, Begich joined the Republican caucus in the 427-1 vote passage of the bill on November 18.
On January 8, 2026, Begich was one of 196 Republicans in the U.S. House to vote against a three-year extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies that had been in effect since 2021 and expired at the end of 2025.
Begich is a co-sponsor of the SAVE America Act, requiring voters to show proof of citizenship to register to vote, as well as photo ID to cast a ballot. The bill passed in the U.S. House on February 11, 2026.
Begich has supported Trump in the 2026 Iran war. In March and June 2026, he voted against war powers resolutions that would have limited Trump's ability to wage war in Iran, until congressional consent had been obtained.
In May 2026, Begich introduced the American Reserve Modernization Act of 2026. The bill would consolidate custody and management of cryptocurrency held by the federal government, and create a strategic Bitcoin reserve within the U.S. Treasury Department.
Committee assignments
Committee on Natural Resources
Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources (Vice Chair)
Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
Subcommittee on Aviation
Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation
Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials (Vice Chair)
Committee on Science, Space, and Technology
Subcommittee on Energy
Subcommittee on Environment
Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight
Caucus memberships
Croatian Caucus
DOGE Caucus
AI Caucus
Ferry Caucus
Freedom Caucus
Greenland Caucus
Golden Dome Caucus
Native American Caucus - Republican Vice Chair
Pacific Islands Caucus
Republican Study Committee
Congressional Western Caucus - Executive Vice Chair
Sharia Free America Caucus
Personal life
He lives in Chugiak, Anchorage, Alaska. Begich and his wife, Dharna, have one son, Nicholas IV. He is a Protestant.