U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican, flashes a thumbs-up to a passing motorist while waving signs, Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2022, in Anchorage, Alaska. Murkowski faces 18 challengers in the state’s open primary for U.S. Senate, in which the top four vote-getters regardless of party affiliation will advance to the November general election. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)
Murkowski had expressed confidence that she would advance and earlier in the day told reporters that “what matters is winning in November.” Tshibaka called the results “the first step in breaking the Murkowski monarchy’s grip on Alaska.” Tshibaka also said she was thankful “for the strong and unwavering support President Trump has shown Alaska.”
Nick Begich, a Republican candidate in both the special election and regular primary for Alaska’s open U.S. House seat, emerges from a booth after voting Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2022, in Anchorage, Alaska. Begich is in two elections on Tuesday. He is one of three candidates in a special election vying to fill the remainder of U.S. Rep. Don Young’s term after he died in March. He is also in the U.S. House primary, seeking a full two-year term. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen, File)
A Murkowski has held the Senate seat since 1981. Before Lisa Murkowski, who has been in the Senate since late 2002, it was her father, Frank Murkowski.
Under a voter-approved elections process being used for the first time in Alaska elections this year, party primaries have been scrapped and ranked choice voting is being used in general elections. The top four vote-getters in a primary race, regardless of party affiliation, are to advance to the general election.
Democrat Mary Peltola smiles at supporters after delivering remarks at a fundraiser on Aug. 12, 2022, in Juneau, Alaska. Peltola is in two races on the Aug. 16, 2022, ballot in Alaska. One is the U.S. House special election, a ranked choice election in which she is competing against Republicans Sarah Palin and Nick Begich. The winner of that race will serve the remainder of the late U.S. Rep. Don Young’s term, which ends early next year. The other race she is in is the U.S. House primary. (AP Photo/Becky Bohrer)
The other two places in the Senate race were too early to call.
Murkowski voted to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial after the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection. Trump was acquitted. But he has had strong words for Murkowski, calling her “the worst” during a rally last month in Anchorage.
Murkowski said that if Tshibaka derives her sole strength from Trump’s endorsement, “what does that really say about her as a candidate with what she has to offer Alaska? Is it just that she will be a rubber stamp for Donald Trump? I don’t think that all Alaskans are really seeking that. Not the ones that I’m talking to.”
FILE – Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy, left, answers a reporter’s question May 23, 2022, after he and his running mate, Nancy Dahlstrom, right, filed as candidates in the 2022 election. Candidates for governor and lieutenant governor run as teams and they are among the 10 sets of candidates hoping to finish in the top four in the Alaska primary election Aug. 16 and advance to the November general election. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen, File)
Kevin Durling, a co-chair of Tshibaka’s campaign, said Trump’s endorsement of Tshibaka was an added bonus for him. He said Tshibaka’s commitment to business and family and her values were important to him. He expressed frustration with Murkowski for the impeachment vote and for her support of the nomination of Interior Secretary Deb Haaland.
In the House primary, Democrat Mary Peltola, Palin and Republican Nick Begich advanced to the November election. It was too early to call the fourth spot. The winner of the November race will be elected to a two-year term.
FILE – Republican candidates Kelly Tshibaka, left, and Sarah Palin talk during an event May 12, 2022, in Anchorage, Alaska. Tshibaka is seeking to become one of four candidates to advance in the U.S. Senate race during Alaska’s primary election Tuesday, Aug. 16. Palin is in two elections on Tuesday. She is one of three candidates in a special election vying to fill the remainder of U.S. Rep. Don Young’s term after he died in March. She’s also in the U.S. House primary, seeking a full two-year term. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen, File)
Peltola, Begich and Palin were also competing in a special election to serve the remainder of the late-Rep. Don Young ‘s term, which ends early next year. Young died in March.
The special election was voters’ first shot at ranked voting in a statewide race. The winner of the special election may not be known until at least Aug. 31. If successful, Peltola would be the first Alaska Native woman elected to the House.
FILE – U.S. Senate candidate Kelly Tshibaka joins Donald Trump on stage during a rally at the Alaska Airlines Center on July 9, 2022, in Anchorage, Alaska. Tshibaka is seeking to become one of four candidates to advance in the U.S. Senate race during Alaska’s primary election Tuesday, Aug. 16. (Bill Roth/Anchorage Daily News via AP, File)
There also were several write-in candidates in the special election, including Republican Tara Sweeney, who was also competing in the House primary. Sweeney was an assistant secretary for Indian Affairs in the U.S. Interior Department during the Trump administration.
The special election was on one side of the ballot; the other side contained primary races for U.S. Senate, U.S. House, governor and lieutenant governor and legislative seats.
FILE – Democrat Les Gara poses for a photo in downtown Juneau, Alaska, June 8, 2022. Gara, a former state lawmaker from Anchorage, is running for governor this year, with Jessica Cook as his running mate. They are among the 10 sets of candidates hoping to finish in the top four in the Alaska primary election Aug. 16 and advance to the November general election. (AP Photo/Becky Bohrer, File)
Palin, in a statement Tuesday evening, called this “the first test case of the crazy, convoluted, undesirable ranked-choice voting system.”
Supporters of ranked voting have said it encourages positive campaigning but the House race has at times taken on harsh tones.
FILE – Democrat Les Gara poses for a photo in downtown Juneau, Alaska, June 8, 2022. Gara, a former state lawmaker from Anchorage, is running for governor this year, with Jessica Cook as his running mate. They are among the 10 sets of candidates hoping to finish in the top four in the Alaska primary election Aug. 16 and advance to the November general election. (AP Photo/Becky Bohrer, File)
Begich, a businessman from a family of prominent Democrats, has come out hard against Palin, seeking to cast her as someone chasing fame and as a quitter; Palin resigned during her term as governor in 2009.
In one Begich ad, the narrator says Alaska has faced “years of disasters,” including fires and COVID-19. “Sarah Palin is one disaster we can actually avoid,” the narrator says.
Democrat Mary Peltola, center, gestures as she speaks with supporters at a fundraiser on Aug. 12, 2022, in Juneau, Alaska. Peltola is in two races on the Aug. 16, 2022, ballot in Alaska. One is the U.S. House special election, a ranked choice election in which she is competing against Republicans Sarah Palin and Nick Begich. The winner of that race will serve the remainder of the late U.S. Rep. Don Young’s term, which ends early next year. The other race she is in is the U.S. House primary. (AP Photo/Becky Bohrer)
A narrator in one of Palin’s ads refers to Begich as “negative Nick” and says Palin wants to serve in Congress “to carry Don Young’s torch.”
Peltola, a former lawmaker who most recently worked at a commission whose goal is to rebuild salmon resources on the Kuskokwim River, has cast herself as a consensus builder.
FILE – Mary Peltola leaves a voting booth while early voting, Aug. 12, 2022, in Anchorage, Alaska. Peltola, a Democrat, faces Republicans, Nick Begich and Sarah Palin, in a special election Tuesday, Aug 16, 2022, to fill the remainder of the U.S. House term left vacant by Don Young’s death in March. Peltola is also a candidate in Tuesday’s U.S. House primary, seeking a full two-year term. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen, File)
She said one thing that would help her be a good representative is that she is “not a millionaire. I am just like every other regular Alaskan, and I understand the economic struggles that Alaskans face first-hand. My priorities are the priorities of everyday Alaskans.”
FILE – U.S. Senate candidate Kelly Tshibaka, center, and her husband, Niki Tshibaka, left, clap for U.S. House candidate Sarah Palin, right, after she joined the stage with former President Donald Trump during a rally in Anchorage, Alaska, Saturday, July 9, 2022. Tshibaka is seeking to become one of four candidates to advance in the U.S. Senate race during Alaska’s primary election Tuesday, Aug. 16. Palin is in two elections that day. She is one of three candidates in a special election vying to fill the remainder of U.S. Rep. Don Young’s term. She’s also in the U.S. House primary, seeking a full two-year term. (Bill Roth/Anchorage Daily News via AP, File)
In a statement early Wednesday, she said while the results of the special election won’t be known for some time, “we are moving forward into the general election. We are going to build on this momentum and build a coalition of Alaskans that can win in November.”
Alaska U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, left, speaks with supporters at the grand opening of her reelection campaign office in Juneau, Alaska, on Thursday, Aug. 11, 2022. Murkowski said she expects to be among the candidates who will advance from the Aug. 16, 2022, U.S. Senate primary in Alaska. Under a system approved by voters and being used in Alaska for the first time this year, the top four vote-getters in the primary, regardless of party affiliation, will advance to the November general election, in which ranked voting will be used. (AP Photo/Becky Bohrer)
Dunleavy and his running mate, Nancy Dahlstrom, in a statement said this “is only the start of the race. We’ll dig into all the numbers as they come in over the next few days to find out where we need to shore up our campaign, and we’re looking forward to reaching every Alaskan and earning their vote between now and November.”
Walker is running with Heidi Drygas and Gara with Jessica Cook.
