Sarah Palin defeated by Mary Peltola in Alaska comeback bid

Former US vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin is projected to have lost her bid for a political comeback after this month's midterm elections.

The Republican suffered her second defeat in three months to Mary Peltola, a Democrat, in the race for a US House of Representatives seat in Alaska.

Senator Lisa Murkowski is meanwhile projected to have beaten a fellow Republican challenger in her election.

The results won't affect which parties will run Congress after the midterms.

Republicans will still take over the House, while Democrats retain the Senate.

The Alaska races took two weeks to be called because the state uses a new ranked-choice voting system.

CBS News, the BBC's US partner, projected the result for Alaska's at-large House seat on Wednesday night with 88% of votes counted, showing Ms Peltola on 55% and Ms Palin on 45%.

Ms Peltola won the seat by three percentage points in a special election this August, her first victory over Ms Palin.

The Democrat's victory is notable in a conservative state that former President Donald Trump, a Republican, won by 10 points in 2020. Mr Trump endorsed Ms Palin in both her elections.

Senator Murkowski - an incumbent moderate Republican who voted to impeach Mr Trump for incitement of insurrection after last year's US Capitol riot - has also cruised to victory.

With almost all votes counted, she has beaten Trump-endorsed intra-party challenger Kelly Tshibaka by more than seven points, CBS projects.