Alaska Senate candidate Kelly Tshibaka says Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski failed their home state by turning her back on former President Donald Trump.
In an interview with the Washington Examiner, Tshibaka explained that President Joe Biden made clear he wanted to close the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and despite knowing how vital the oil fields are to the state, Murkowski aided his reelection bid by rejecting Trump.
“She picked a needless fight with Donald Trump. His policies were really good for Alaska. He opened up oil and gas jobs for us. He reduced taxes for us. He supported our military. We have a strong military presence up here, and he rebuilt the military, and her impeachment vote made a lot of people angry in Alaska,” Tshibaka said.
Tshibaka referenced the Energy and Natural Resources Committee confirmation hearing for Interior Secretary Deb Haaland. Haaland, the former New Mexico Democratic congresswoman, always opposed drilling in the Arctic. Murkowski is a longtime member of the committee, and Tshibaka wondered why the senator did not press her on her state’s oil leases.
“She didn’t ask her a single question about what her position was on the future of the oil leases and permits, and that really is determinative of what our future for oil and gas jobs are going to be. Biden has already signaled that he intends to shut down oil and gas development in Alaska,” Tshibaka said.
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Tshibaka’s personal history is connected to her state’s financial interest in the oil and gas industry. The Harvard-trained attorney, who spent 18 years in Washington in the Justice Department’s Inspector General’s Office, came from a blue-collar family background.
“My parents moved up to Alaska when our state was really prosperous. They came up looking for more opportunity. My dad was a union electrician, and he served in Vietnam. And my mom was one of the Alaskans who helped the Prudhoe Bay startup,” Tshibaka said.
The Prudhoe Bay oil field is located in Alaska’s North Slope and has been producing for over 40 years. It is considered to be one of largest oil fields in the country.
“But she came up before there was a pipeline, and life was hard for them. At times, they were homeless for a while, but they fought their way into the middle class, and they taught me how to work for everything I’ve got. I got to be the first in my family to pursue a college degree and went off to college, went off to law school,” Tshibaka said. “I wanted to come back home, and I had an opportunity to, but Alaska has really declined since I was born and raised here.”
She added: “It’s just not the same state. In the last 20 years or so, we’ve been really short on opportunity, and that’s the same amount of time Lisa Murkowski has been in the Senate.”
Murkowski, 63, who is up for reelection in 2022, appears to face a more aggressive Republican challenger in Tshibaka this cycle. A poll released last week showed Murkowski trailing Tshibaka by double digits. The poll also indicated the incumbent’s negative rating skyrocketing among Republican voters.
The poll was released a month after the veteran lawmaker was censured by her own state party for being one of seven Republicans who voted to convict Trump in the Senate’s second impeachment trial of the former president.
“There was a series of votes that happened just in the last couple of months, and that culminated in the Alaska Republican Party saying she’s not allowed to call herself a Republican inside Alaska anymore. They issued a formal censure,” Tshibaka said. “They said they’re looking for another candidate to take her on.”
Murkowski’s favorability with grassroots conservatives fell apart over the years since her father appointed her to his Senate seat following his resignation from the upper chamber in December 2002 to become governor of the state. The younger Murkowski finished his term, which expired in January 2005.
Although she won three Senate elections, none was ever by a majority. Murkowski faced her toughest reelection to date in 2010, which led to her mounting a successful write-in campaign for the Senate seat in the general election. The 2022 reelection cycle will be different than previous cycles, though. Alaskans voted to hold an all-party or “jungle” primary followed by a ranked-choice ballot during the general election.
The setup was created by Murkowski’s former campaign team to guarantee she would not face a GOP primary challenger, according to Must Read Alaska, and every ballot must be counted by a machine. There is no hand count, and there can be no audit.
Although Murkowski will avoid a partisan primary, she still faces obstacles. In an all-party primary, the top four advance to the general election. The voters then proceed to vote on each by ranked-choice voting.
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As a result of this type of primary, Murkowski needs Democratic votes, and the recent poll shows her support among Democrats is not strong either. Additionally, Democrats are likely to field their own candidate.
Nevertheless, Murkowski has the support of her fellow Republicans on Capitol Hill. The Senate Leadership Fund announced its endorsement of the incumbent and mentioned she supported Trump on several key votes, specifically the then-president’s tax cuts package as well as the confirmations of Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett.
“Alaska needs the kind of experienced representation that Lisa Murkowski provides in the United States Senate. Whether fighting for Alaskan interests like expanding energy production and protecting fisheries, or advancing conservative priorities by confirming judges and cutting taxes, her strong leadership is vitally important to Alaska’s future. Many politicians put themselves first, but Lisa Murkowski always puts Alaska first,” said SLF President Steven Law.
