Despite Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s refusal to say whether or not she will seek a fourth elected term term next year, sources close to the Alaskan told Newsmax Friday that she will definitely run again.
''She runs,'' a longtime contributor to Murkowski and the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) told us flatly.
Other Murkowski-watchers note that the senator’s latest vote — to confirm controversial Biden nominee Vanita Gupta to the Number Three position at the U.S. Department of Justice — could boost her chances under the new voting process instituted in the Land of the Midnight Sun.
Last November, by less than 4,000 votes, Alaskans joined with Maine to adopt a new ''ranked-choice'' voting mechanism for nominating and electing candidates.
Instead of two primaries, in which each party chooses a candidate for the general election in November, Alaska will hold one open primary from which the top four candidates, regardless of party, proceed to the general election.
In November, the voter will rank the candidates in order of preference from first to fourth. The candidate with the lowest ''first place'' votes is eliminated and his or her second choice votes become additional first place choice votes for the remaining candidates.
Kathryn Murdoch of New York, daughter-in-law of press lord Rupert Murdoch (and one who doesn’t share his conservative philosophy), was the largest ($500,000) donor to a group known as Alaskans For Better Elections that helped put Measure 2 (changing the primary and election laws) over the top.
Under this system, most Alaska observers agree, Murkowski is favored to win. Along with her vote to confirm Gupta, the senator’s iconic status as one of seven Republicans to vote for President Trump’s impeachment and her opposition to confirming Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh would have made her vulnerable in a closed Republican primary with conservative former Commissioner of Administration Kelly Tshibaka.
A Harvard Law School graduate and mother of five, Tshibaka is a vigorous pro-lifer. Already, several veterans of the Trump ’20 campaign have joined the Tshibaka team: Campaign Manager Bill Stepien, Deputy Campaign Manager Justin Clark, Battleground States Director Nick Trainer and Communications Director Tim Murtaugh.
Defecting from the Murkowski camp to work for Tshibaka is Mary Ann Pruitt, who placed all of the TV ads for the senator in 2016.
Trump himself is likely to endorse and stump for Tshibaka, having recently vowed: ''I do not know where other people will be next year, but I know where I will be — in Alaska campaigning against a disloyal and very bad senator.''
But Tshibaka won’t be challenging Murkowski in a closed primary and, under the new ''ranked choice'' system, the senator can garner support from independents and Democrats in the primary.
Democrats smell a possible pickup and are likely to encourage Dr. Al Gross, an Independent who carried the Democratic banner in the 2020 Senate election, to make another race next year.
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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