Grassroots Alaska Republicans have spoken, and they formally disapprove of Sen. Mitch McConnell’s alleged actions against Alaska Republican Senate candidate Kelly Tshibaka.
“After voting members of the Alaska Republican Party State Central Committee asked party leadership to take action, the entire body was polled by Chairwoman Ann Brown on whether to censure Sen. Mitch McConnell for bullying Alaska Republican Senate candidate Kelly Tshibaka,” Must Read Alaska reports.
“The result was 49-8 in favor of the resolution to censure McConnell and his Senate Leadership Fund for attacking Tshibaka on behalf of McConnell’s favored candidate, Sen. Lisa Murkowski.”
The @AKGOP voted to censure @LeaderMcConnell for making allegedly misleading statements about @KellyForAlaska, their favored candidate for US Senate, and for endorsing her opponent, incumbent Sen. @LisaMurkowski. https://t.co/OQXXi83GMk
— The Epoch Times (@EpochTimes) October 25, 2022
The Alaska GOP's symbolic censure of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) came as the establishment GOP is helping Sen. Lisa Murkowski and rebuffing Trump-backed Kelly Tshibaka. https://t.co/TxG0lGNMwq
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) October 25, 2022
From Must Read Alaska:
Several districts had already conducted separate votes as subcommittees of the State Central Committee. The District 26 resolution requested that the entire party take a vote, which triggered the statewide question.
On Friday night, Chairwoman Ann Brown sent out a note to voting members and balloting began, ending on Sunday evening. Results were sent out to the party’s voting members on Monday morning.
McConnell, who runs the Senate Leadership Fund, has been running anti-Tshibaka ads since Labor Day in his effort to support the reelection of Murkowski. But Tshibaka is the endorsed candidate of the Alaska Republican Party since June of 2021, while Murkowski was cens
“That the Alaska Republican Party State Central Committee condemns the divisive and misleading statements from the Senate Leadership Fund and the inappropriate use of millions of dollars from the Senate Leadership Fund to oppose our endorsed candidate, Kelly Tshibaka,” the resolution reads in part, “Finally, be it resolved that we request the Senate Leadership Fund immediately stop the attack ads against Kelly Tshibaka and discontinue the support of all other opposing candidates.”
“Much of the financial support from the Senate Leadership Fund has been used for malicious political attack ads targeted at our endorsed candidate, Kelly Tshibaka, that are gross distortions of fact,” the resolution reads.
“We request the Senate Leadership Fund immediately stop the attack ads against Kelly Tshibaka and discontinue the support of all other opposing candidates.”
The Hill added:
The Alaska Republican Party also censured Murkowski last year after she voted to convict former President Trump in his impeachment trial for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Tshibaka is endorsed by Trump, who has become a vocal critic of McConnell and has pushed for the Senate leader to step down.
McConnell, who runs the Senate Leadership Fund, has spent millions on ads attacking Tshibaka to support Murkowski, a 20-year incumbent.
According to FactCheck.org, some of the ads aired in the race have been misleading, including one claiming Tshibaka wants to ban birth control by mail.
The Alaska Republican Party, which endorsed Tshibaka last year well ahead of the primary election, said in its resolution that it has also sent out statements warning voters not to believe the “attack ads.”
Alaska’s November general election is a ranked-choice process, where a candidate needs more than 50 percent of the vote to win.
Tshibaka and Murkowski are the two front-runners in the race.
Join the conversation!
Please share your thoughts about this article below. We value your opinions, and would love to see you add to the discussion!