Memorial services for Alaska Rep. Don Young set for next week in Anchorage and D.C. area

Public memorial services were announced Thursday to honor the late U.S. Rep. Don Young. Meanwhile, the first candidates seeking to replace him have begun registering with the Alaska Division of Elections.

Young’s former congressional office announced a service at St. Francis Episcopal Church in Great Falls, Virginia on Wednesday. The memorial service will be held the day after Young is to lie in state at the U.S. Capitol. Great Falls is near Washington, D.C.

On Saturday, April 2, a memorial is scheduled to be held at Anchorage Baptist Temple at 11 a.m., the office said. Details on a livestream of the event were expected to be announced later, the office said.

Both memorial services will be open to the public, the office said.

In the Alaska state Capitol, legislators have been asked to reserve places for the ceremony, and many lawmakers said they plan to attend. Rep. Sara Rasmussen, R-Anchorage, was one of the lawmakers who received an RSVP request and said she is “sure it will be highly attended.”

Young, who died on Friday at age 88, was the longest-serving Republican in U.S. House history. He had held Alaska’s lone U.S. House seat since 1973.

[Gruff, warm, combustible, shrewd: For 49 years, Don Young’s ideology was ‘Alaska’]

A special primary is set for June 11 and special election for Aug. 16 to determine who will serve the remainder of Young’s term, which expires in January. The state Division of Elections is targeting Sept. 2 for certification of the special election.

As of 3:43 p.m. Thursday, the Division of Elections listed four candidates as having registered for the special primary. These included independent candidates Gregg Brelsford and Bill Hibler, Libertarian J.R. Myers and Republican Stephen Wright.

Many other candidates are expected to enter the race before the April 1 registration deadline. Former Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Al Gross and Republican state Sen. Josh Revak each pulled down their websites this week, a possible sign of an impending campaign.

Revak, who had close personal and professional ties to Young, declined to say that he will run to replace Young. For the time being, he said, he wants to be respectful of Young’s memory.

“I will say there’s been a team of people who have come together to encourage me to step forward, and when appropriate, we’ll have that conversation,” he said.

Daily News reporter James Brooks contributed from Juneau. Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.