In a primary for the general election that was held the same day, Ms. Peltola led the field with nearly 37 percent. To win in November, she would again need a majority of voters to rank her on their ballots, even if she was not their first choice.
On Instagram in September, Ms. Palin, who has sparred bitterly with Mr. Begich, shared text messages she had exchanged with Ms. Peltola, with whom she has a personal rapport, in which the former governor praised her competitor as a “real Alaskan chick! Beautiful & smart & tough.” (Ms. Palin, like Mr. Begich, would need Ms. Peltola’s supporters to rank her second in order to prevail in November.)
The House is scheduled to be in Washington for only 10 days before the elections, leaving Ms. Peltola little time to familiarize herself with the institution or the unfinished legislative work Mr. Young left behind before voters decide whether to grant her a full term. On Tuesday, Ms. Pelosi announced Ms. Peltola would sit on the House Committee on Natural Resources, which Mr. Young oversaw from 1995 to 2001.
In her first month of votes, she will consider a stopgap government funding legislation that may include a permitting reform deal that has rankled both liberals and conservatives. Under federal election law, she will also not be allowed to send out mass unsolicited mail to her constituents through her congressional office because it is less than two months before the general election.
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“She’s got to work that much harder to get the word out on everything she’s working on,” Zack Brown, a former aide to Mr. Young, said in an interview. He added, “She’s going to be under an extra-large microscope.”
Her spokesman said Ms. Peltola, since arriving in Washington on Saturday, had met with her new staff and was examining which bills she would pick up from Mr. Young. She has also hired Alex Ortiz, Mr. Young’s final chief of staff, to hold that position in her office, which garnered nods of approval from members of both parties.
