Republican Kelly Tshibaka, the commissioner of the Alaska Department of Administration, has resigned her government position and announced her plans to run for the US Senate seat currently held by Republican Lisa Murkowski, the Associated Press reports.
Murkowski, a Senator since 2002 when her father appointed her to finish out his term when he resigned his seat to become Alaska governor, irked many in the GOP by voting to convict Donald Trump in his second impeachment trial. Voting to convict Trump earned her a censure from the Alaska Republican Party.
Tshibaka said in a statement she is running for the Senate she is running “for the Alaskans who believe government is of the people, by the people and for the people. The D.C. insiders need to be held accountable to us.”
The 2022 elections in Alaska will be very different than those in the past. Party primaries were scrapped through a voter referendum passed in the November elections; instead, the top four candidates will advance to the general election, were rank-choice voting will determine the winner.
According to a poll commissioned by Trump associates released Saturday, Murkowski enjoys a 43% popularity ranking, slightly below Trump’s 52% in the state.