Lisa Murkowski wins re-election in Alaska, beating a Trump-backed rival

Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, a centrist Republican, won a fourth full term on Wednesday, according to The Associated Press, overcoming a conservative backlash against her independent streak and her vote to convict former President Donald Trump for incitement of insurrection after the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.

Murkowski was declared the winner after securing more than 50% of the vote, a mandated threshold under the state’s new ranked-choice system. She defeated Kelly Tshibaka, a conservative rival backed by Trump and the state Republican Party, and Pat Chesbro, a Democrat.

While Democrats have maintained their control of the Senate, Murkowski is now positioned to remain a pivotal swing vote in the chamber and to wield significant seniority on the Senate Indian Affairs Committee and the Appropriations Committee, which controls government funding. A Senate runoff election in Georgia on Dec. 6 will determine if the upper chamber remains evenly divided, or if Democrats will secure a 51st seat.

With 135,972 votes after multiple rounds of tabulation, Murkowski secured 53.7% of the vote, the Alaska Division of Elections said. Tshibaka received 46.3% and 117,299 votes, while Chesbro was eliminated in an earlier round with a total of 29,078 votes.

“I am honored that Alaskans — of all regions, backgrounds and party affiliations — have once again granted me their confidence to continue working with them and on their behalf in the U.S. Senate,” Murkowski said in a statement. “I look forward to continuing the important work ahead of us.”

Murkowski was the only Senate Republican up for reelection this year who voted to convict Trump, a move that prompted a fierce backlash from Republicans in her state. She has also frustrated her party by supporting Democratic nominees for the Supreme Court and for positions in President Joe Biden’s administration.

She has played a key role in negotiating several bipartisan compromises, including the $1 trillion infrastructure law, which she highlighted in several appearances across her state. Murkowski, one of just two Senate Republicans who support abortion rights, has expressed support for codifying abortion rights after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and openly expressed her dismay over the decision.

Tshibaka had sought to capitalize on conservative wrath against Murkowski, who retained the backing of Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the minority leader, and his allies. But the use of ranked-choice voting, as well as an open primary system that sent the top four candidates regardless of party through to the general election, was championed by some of her allies in part to help centrist candidates like Murkowski.

She secured more than 50% of the vote, as required under the new election law, in part because Democrats and others who voted for Chesbro ranked Murkowski second on their ballots. Of the supporters who chose Chesbro first, more than 20,500 ranked Murkowski while just over 2,200 chose Tshibaka.

State law allows absentee ballots to be counted up to 15 days after Election Day if postmarked by then and sent from outside the United States. Election officials decided to wait to tabulate rounds of ranked-choice voting until all ballots were counted.

Because none of the candidates appeared to have secured more than 50% of the votes by Nov. 23 — 15 days after Election Day — Alaskan election officials tabulated the next round of votes once all ballots were counted.

Murkowski has beaten back conservative challengers before with the support of Democrats, centrists and Alaska Native voters, including in 2010, when she won a write-in campaign. But in interviews, she has acknowledged that this campaign carried a different significance, as more centrists have been driven out by the extremes of her party.

With Republican votes needed to push any legislation over the 60-vote filibuster threshold, Democrats are likely to turn to Murkowski as a negotiating partner for must-pass spending legislation and bills needed to raise the cap on the nation’s borrowing limit.