September 1: Alaska rejects Palin, Mississippi confronts a crisis

It's a shocker in Alaska as Democrat Mary Peltola won Alaska’s special election on Wednesday, making her “the first Alaska Native in Congress,” the Anchorage Daily News’ Iris Samuels reports. Peltola is also the first person elected via the state’s new ranked-choice voting system. 

“Peltola topped Republican former Gov. Sarah Palin after ballots were tallied and after votes for third-place GOP candidate Nick Begich III were redistributed to his supporters’ second choices. Peltola, a Yup’ik former state lawmaker who calls Bethel home, is now slated to be the first woman to hold Alaska’s lone U.S. House seat.” Peltola, Palin and Begich will face off again in November for a full term.

While Washington chews on headlines about President Joe Biden's pre-midterm road blitz and former President Donald Trump's legal jeopardy, an American city of more than 150,000 people is struggling to deliver clean drinking water to its residents.

There’s no clear end in sight to the crisis in Jackson, Miss., which was sparked by record rainfall that flooded the Pearl River but is rooted in much more persistent issues of public disinvestment, political neglect and racial inequity. As with Hurricanes Katrina and Harvey, as well as the water crisis in Flint, Mich., majority-Black communities are left bearing the brunt of the dysfunction — not just during a crisis, but for years before and after.

Kara Tabor is an audio producer for POLITICO Audio.
Raghu Manavalan is the Host of POLITICO's Playbook.
Jenny Ament is the Executive Producer of POLITICO Audio.