Theodore Fulton Stevens was the senior Republican U.S. Senator of Alaska. He ran until he was finally defeated in his re-election bid to the U.S. Senate in 2008 by the Democrat nominee, Mark Begich. On August 9, 2010, he was killed in a plane crash while on route to a private lodge. The initial reports were uncertain about what had happened to him and the other passengers. However a family spokesman confirmed that he had died in the crash. He was the Senate President Pro Tempore emeritus before Patrick Leahy took the position.