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Sen. Lisa Murkowski has won re-election in Alaska, dealing former President Donald Trump another loss in what has largely been a miserable midterm cycle for his hand-picked candidates in competitive Senate races. Murkowski, one of only seven Republicans who voted to convict Trump at his second impeachment trial, survived a challenge from Trump-endorsed Kelly Tshibaka, a former Alaska Department of Administration commissioner, in the state’s first Senate election to be decided by ranked-choice voting. Rather than limiting voters to one choice, the format allows for candidates to be ranked in order of preference. Neither Murkowski nor Tshibaka, the top two-vote...

Twenty-one year incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Republican challenger Kelly Tshibaka advanced on Wednesday to the final found of ranked-choice tabulation after neither candidate reached the 50 percent threshold in the first round. With 80 percent of the votes counted, Tshibaka leads the race with 44.3 percent. Murkowski is close behind at 42.8 percent, while Democrat candidate Pat Chesbro holds 9.5 percent.

Former President Donald Trump's Senate endorsement record is headed for a stellar election night with 10 days until the midterms. Of the 22 Republican candidates that Trump has endorsed for the Senate, only two are currently at risk of losing their races, according to a Newsweek analysis. The two Trump-backed Republicans who are projected to lose their contests as of Friday are Kelly Tshibaka, who is running in Alaska's ranked-choice voting system against incumbent Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski, and Leora Levy, who is running in Connecticut against incumbent Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal.

The Alaska GOP formally censured Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell over the weekend for the Kentucky lawmaker’s interference in the Arctic Senate race between two Republicans. On Monday, the state Republican central committee announced the results of an overwhelming vote to admonish the national party leader over attack ads against Kelly Tshibaka, the candidate endorsed by the Alaska GOP who is challenging incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski. The final vote came to 49-8 in favor of a resolution censuring McConnell and the minority leader’s Senate Leadership Fund (SLF) which has pumped more than $5 million into the race to defend a...

Twenty-one-year incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) has said she will vote for Democrat House candidate Rep. Mary Peltola (D-AK) over Republican challenger former Gov. Sarah Palin. “Yeah, I am,” Murkowski responded Friday when asked by the Anchorage Daily News if she would vote for the Democrat. Alaska uses the ranked choice voting system, which ultimately affords Democrat voters the opportunity to vote for Murkowski on the second and third ballots. Murkowski’s decision to vote for a Democrat is likely intended to attract more votes down-ballot to ultimately defeat Trump-endorsed Senate Republican candidate Kelly Tshibaka, who is leading in the polls...

Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska is not projected to win reelection to a fifth term, a potential victory for former President Donald Trump’s political crusade against her, according to election modeling current as of Monday. Murkowski risks losing the election to the other Republican candidate, Kelly Tshibaka, who has a 52% chance of winning, according to FiveThirtyEight, an election polling monitor. Murkowski, 78, has faced a steep primary challenge from Tshibaka, who is backed by Trump, after voting to impeach him in 2021 for his conduct on Jan. 6, 2021, during the storming of the U.S. Capitol. For her...

Trump-endorsed Kelly Tshibaka was projected this week to defeat by a narrow margin 21-year incumbent and pro-impeachment Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK). According to FiveThirtyEight’s simulation of the race, Tshibaka is projected to defeat Murkowski 52 in 100 times. The model supports polling showing Tshibaka has a slight edge over the incumbent.

The airwaves are full of the latest “kill shot” on Senate candidate Kelly Tshibaka. In this ad, the Senate Majority Leadership Fund, run by Senate Minority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell, makes it appear that Tshibaka actually confesses to committing fraud when she was employed by the federal government. It’s a lie, but this is McConnell’s attempt to prop up Sen. Lisa Murkowski, and this is after all, October, the witching month when the worst of the political ads hit the airwaves. McConnell has gone against the Alaska Republican Party, which endorsed Thsibaka over 18 months ago, censured Murkowski, and asked...

A new poll out Thursday shows GOP incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski in a dead heat to keep her seat against Republican candidate Kelly Tshibaka, who has been endorsed by former President Donald Trump. According to the poll from Fabrizio Ward and Impact Research, commissioned by AARP, Murkowski leads on the final round of balloting by a mere three votes among the 1,050 likely voters surveyed. “It is an understatement to call that within the margin of error,” the pollsters wrote in their report, noting “10 percent of voters did not rank either of those candidates in the final round.” The...

Trump-endorsed candidate Kelly Tshibaka is tied with 21-year incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) for U.S. Senate with about 50 days until the election, national pollster Cygnal revealed Monday. The poll takes into account Alaska’s ranked-choice voting. Tshibaka leads Murkowski on the first ballot by 7.9 points and on the second by 9.3 points. On the third ballot, the poll shows Murkowski leading Tshibaka by 0.2 percent, a statistical tie. Democrat Pat Chesbro received 13.1 percent on the first ballot and 13.9 percent on the second ballot before becoming ineligible for the third ballot. The poll suggests that Murkowski’s best chance...

Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski has won the backing of several billionaire donors in her battle for a fourth term. Leading the pack is hedge fund tycoon Ken Griffin, one of seven moguls who have donated over $25,000 to help Murkowski stay in the Senate. Griffin sent $1.5 million to Alaskans for L.I.S.A., a super PAC that can accept unlimited donations. The group, founded by former Murkowski campaign staffers, claims the acronym in its name stands for “Leadership In a Strong Alaska,” but it only backs one candidate: Murkowski, and has spent $2.7 million on her behalf. In addition to Griffin,...

2022 Alaska Primary Election Results

Two of the most high-profile Republicans who have stood up to former President Donald Trump’s false claims of election fraud are facing the voters on Aug. 16. And while one of them will almost certainly survive, the other is probably going to lose. Out of the seven Republican senators who voted to convict Trump for his role in the Jan. 6 riot, only one is also running for reelection this year: Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski. And she’s virtually guaranteed to make it to the November ballot — but not necessarily because Alaskans agree with her criticism of “Stop the Steal.”...

Establishment Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) is underwater with Alaskan Republican voters, according to a Monday Morning Consult poll. Only 41 percent approved of Murkowski’s job performance, while 46 percent disapproved. The polling comes as Murkowski, who is supported by Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), hopes to defeat Donald Trump-endorsed Kelly Tshibaka in the August 16 Republican primary. In March polling, Murkowski trailed Tshibaka (45.4 to 28.7 percent). Murkowski’s campaign has been flooded with donations from large political action groups. Murkowski ended the second quarter with $6.1 million in her campaign account with a second quarter raise of $1.7 million. In contrast,...

Establishment Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) on Thursday admitted she may lose her primary bid to Donald Trump-endorsed candidate Kelly Tshibaka. “I may not be re-elected,” Murkowski told the New York Times about the possible end of her 20-year Senate career. “It may be that Alaskans say, ‘Nope, we want to go with an absolute, down-the-line, always, always, 100-percent, never-question, rubber-stamp Republican,’ she said about Tshibaka who is leading in the polls. “And if they say that that’s the way that Alaska has gone — kind of the same direction that so many other parts of the country have gone...

As the Alaska Republican Party holds its state convention this month, attention will naturally focus on the 2022 elections, most notably the selection of our next U.S. Senator. I’ve been running against incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski for over a year, and it’s clear that voters agree that it’s time for a change. Because of a new election law, approved narrowly through a referendum crafted and promoted by Murkowski’s political allies, we no longer hold party primaries in Alaska. All candidates from all parties will run in a “jungle” primary on August 16 with the top four advancing to the general...

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is fighting to fend off a pro-Trump challenger to Sen. Lisa Murkowski, flooding airwaves with ads defending the Alaska Republican’s record. The Senate Leadership Fund, the super PAC associated with Mr. McConnell, said Monday that it booked more than $7 million worth of ad time in Alaska to boost Ms. Murkowski. “It’s important for Lisa to be reelected. She’s one of the few … moderates in the middle of the Senate,” Mr. McConnell told Axios this week. The GOP leader added that Ms. Murkowski had been a “key player” to advance bipartisan legislation and that...

new poll is bad news for Lisa Murkowski’s hopes of keeping her Senate Seat. The poll, conducted for Murkowski challenger Tshibaka’s campaign, has her in first place as first choice on the ballot with 45.4% of the vote compared to 28.7% for Murkowski. Other poll findings: Tshibaka leads Murkowski by 17% on the first-choice ballot Tshibaka carries 84% of the Republican vote and leads with both men and women. On the final ranked-choice results, Tshibaka prevails by 2%. Tshibaka trounces Murkowski with both Trump Republicans and Traditional Republicans. A strong majority of undecided voters have an unfavorable opinion of Murkowski...

The Alaska Republican challenging Sen. Lisa Murkowski took to the stage at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Thursday in Orlando, bringing a pointed message about Murkowski to a national audience that has no love for Alaska’s senior senator. *** Right after she finished speaking, reporters from the New York Times and CNN rushed up to talk to her. She spoke to the Times reporter but did not appear to give CNN an interview, because others were pulling her away for photos. Potential donors said she did well. One person commented that their son and daughter-in-law live in Alaska, and...

Some of them, anyway. Donald Trump has endorsed candidates in 15 Senate contests to date, according to Politico. Many of them are incumbent Senators. They are expected to cruise to renomination by the GOP. But, says Politico, some of the others are struggling. Politico cites Mo Brooks in Alabama, Kelly Tshibaka in Alaska, Ted Budd in North Carolina, and Sean Parnell in Pennsylvania (Parnell recently withdrew from the race due to allegations of spousal abuse). Trump hasn’t endorsed Blake Masters, but did appear at a Mar-a-Logo fundraiser for the Arizona Republican. Masters is also struggling, according to Politico. I don’t...