(FRI 11/25/22)
Murkowski Wins Re-Election – Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), among the most moderate of her party’s members of the U.S. Senate, won a third term before Thanksgiving by beating another Republican, Kelly Tshibaka in the state’s first ranked choice tabulation, 53.7% to 46.3% according to Alaska Public Media. The Alaska Republican Party and former President Trump had endorsed Tshibaka, who had accused Murkowski (pictured above) of being “functionally a Democrat,” citing her vote to support the Affordable Care Act in 2017 and her vote against Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, in 2018, according to Wikipedia.
About that Ranked Choice: In the final ranked-choice ballot, Murkowski had 135,972 votes to Tshibaka’s 117,299. Yet it took Alaska election officials more than two weeks to declare winners from the midterms.
And Palin Loses: Meanwhile, former Alaska governor and vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin lost her bid to unseat Rep. Mary Petola (D) for the state’s at-large House district seat. Petola had won an August special election to replace the late Rep. Don Young (R) who died while in office last Spring.
Is Alaska Stepping Back… from the Tea and/or MAGA parties? In 2006, incumbent Gov. Frank Murkowski (R), father of Sen. Lisa Murkowski, lost re-election when he came in third in the state’s Republican primary, behind second-place John Binkley and winner Sarah Palin, who two years later was Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) running mate in the presidential election.
House Count: Republicans now have 220 seats of 435 in the House of Representatives, to the Democratic Party’s 213, with two seats yet to be determined.
What’s Left: Make that “Which House elections remain?” because neither of the two Democrats are likely to prevail in the last two un-called races. In California’s 13th, Republican John Duarte leads former state assembly member Adam Gray (D) by fewer than 600 votes, with 99% of ballots counted, according to The Hill. The district seat is currently held by Democratic Rep. Barbara Lee, who ran November 8 for California’s new 12th District.
Colorado’s District 3 House race hasn’t been officially counted, The Hill reports, though Democrat Adam Frisch has already conceded to Rep. Lauren Boebert (R). Assuming California 13 and Colorado 3 will finish as expected, the 222-213 House of the 118th Congress will be the mirror-opposite of the 222-213 Democratic majority of the 117th.
--Combined and edited by Todd Lassa