Sarah Palin lost the battle, but won the war

The results are in: Democrat Mary Peltola has defeated former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin in their House race, a loss that could mark the end of Palin’s political career. The fact that a Democrat won in Alaska, a state that has gone Republican in every presidential election since President Lyndon Johnson’s landslide 1964 defeat against Sen. Barry Goldwater won’t sit well with GOP party elders.

But Palin’s political legacy will endure. The former Alaska governor was a pivotal figure in mainstreaming a new style of Republican politics that ignored...