OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski is admitting that 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 — I have to accept that,” Murkowski added. “But I’m going to give them the option… Maybe I am just completely politically naïve, and this ship has sailed. But I won’t know unless we — unless I — stay out there and give Alaskans the opportunity to weigh in.”
Establishment Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski admitted she may lose her primary bid to Trump-endorsed candidate Kelly Tshibaka. https://t.co/BNQ2ylC0NA
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) April 28, 2022
A new poll recently found that Tshibaka — who won the endorsement of the Alaskan Republican Party and scored Trump’s endorsement — is leading Murkowski heading into the August 16 GOP primary.
The poll, conducted the way Alaska’s new ranked-choice voting system will hold its election, finds that Tshibaka would emerge as the only candidate with a shot to get over 50 percent in a four-way field in November.
On that first choice on the ballot, Tshibaka comes in with 45.4 percent and Murkowski at just 28.7 percent—with a generic Democrat close behind Murkowski and a libertarian candidate in fourth place. The poll’s margin of error is 4.21 percent.
“The way Alaska will elect its U.S. Senator under the new ranked-choice system is that four candidates will be on the ballot in November. That will come after a jungle primary in August where every candidate, regardless of party who files, faces off and the top four vote-getters advance to the November election. In the November election, voters will list their choices and rank them. To win, a candidate needs to get over 50 percent plus one vote to seal the deal; until that happens, there will be a second and possibly a third round of vote counting. The way it works is the first round sees voters’ first choice counted, and then when that concludes, the last-place candidate is eliminated, and their votes are distributed to the other candidates in a second round based on that candidate’s voters’ second choice — and so on until a candidate gets to 50 percent plus one vote,” Breitbart reported.
“This ranked-choice system was championed by Murkowski’s former political team, and the prevailing reason for it was to try to protect her from a primary challenge and keep her political career alive as long as possible. Murkowski, for the record, has never reached 50 percent in any of her general election wins for the U.S. Senate. She was nearly defeated in 2010, losing in the GOP primary to Joe Miller, but then she mounted a successful general election write-in bid to save her seat that year,” the report added.
In Wyoming, Republican Rep. Liz Cheney — also a notorious anti-Trumper — is underwater big time versus Trump-backed Harriet Hageman in the Wyoming GOP primary.
According to a SoCo Strategies poll conducted to gauge the impact of Trump endorsements, Cheney is 18-points behind Hageman.
The new survey of Republican voters found that Hageman, a GOP activist, and Cheyenne land and water rights attorney, leads Cheney, 38%-18%.
Trump has backed Hageman, whom he said “is running against warmonger and disloyal Republican” Cheney.
“Harriet is a fourth-generation daughter of Wyoming, a very successful attorney, and has the support and respect of a truly great U.S. Senator, Wyoming’s own Cynthia Lummis,” Trump continued.
“Harriet Hageman adores the Great State of Wyoming, is strong on Crime and Borders, powerfully supports the Second Amendment, loves our Military and our Vets, and will fight for Election Integrity and Energy Independence (which [President Joe] Biden has already given up),” he added.
“Unlike RINO Liz Cheney, Harriet is all in for America First. Harriet has my Complete and Total Endorsement in replacing the Democrats’ number one provider of sound bites, Liz Cheney. Make America Great Again!” the former president concluded.
