Sen. Lisa Murkowski Advances To November Election For Alaska Senate

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R) advanced in the Alaska Senate race on Tuesday in the all-party primary.

She was among the top four vote-getters and will be joined by Trump-backed challenger Kelly Tshibaka. When the votes were counted, Murkowski was ahead of Tshibaka by around 5,000 votes. They will be joined by Democratic candidate Patricia Chesbro. The fourth spot is yet to be named.

Murkowski, who has represented Alaska in the Senate since 2002 is a relatively moderate Republican. She voted to impeach former President Donald Trump for his role in the January 6, 2021, Capitol attacks and voted against admitting then-Trump nominee Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, though he garnered enough support without her.

Though Murkowski only led Tshibaka by 5,000 votes, she is projected to do better in November. The moderate senator will be able to benefit from support from both Democrats and independents in the ranked-choice election which requires a candidate to receive at least 50 percent of the vote. If no one does, the candidate with the least votes withdraws their candidacy and that person’s voter’s to their second choice until one candidate has over 50%.