Lisa Murkowski, one of the few Republicans who voted to impeach Donald Trump after the storming of the Capitol on January 6, is still on track to retain her seat in the US Senate. That became clear after the Alaska primary Tuesday (local time). Sarah Palin, the former vice presidential candidate and former governor of Alaska, also has a chance of winning a seat in the House of Representatives.
Alaska introduced a new system for its midterm primaries this year. Instead of choosing one candidate from each party to face each other in November, Alaska chose to hold an “unbiased” primaries. The four candidates with the most votes, who are independent of the party, will stand for elections in November.
With 67 percent of the vote counted, Murkowski came first with 44 percent, followed by Kelly Chebaka (40 percent), who was endorsed by Donald Trump, and Democrat Pat Chesebrough (6 percent). Murkowski has long lost support from Trump’s Republicans, but she hopes to retain her seat by supporting moderate Republicans, Democrats and independents. The media emphasized that the result also shows how divided the Republican Party is today.
For the House elections, Trump-backed Sarah Palin ranked second with 32 percent. It is remarkable how Democrat Mary Biltola ranks first with about 38 percent, while Alaska is a traditionally republican state. According to the New York Times, Biltola owes this result to support the Native Americans. Peltola herself is a Yup’ik, and if elected, she would be the first Alaskan Native to the United States Congress. About fifteen percent of the Alaskan population identify as Native.
earlier today Republic Liz Cheney lost the primary in Wyoming. Like Murkowski, she is a major opponent of Donald Trump, and is even one of the only Republicans on the House committee investigating the storming of the Capitol. Of the 10 Republican members of the House of Representatives who voted to impeach Trump, only two returned to the polls in November: David Valadao (California) and Dan Newhouse (Washington).
review alsoLiz Cheney loses the Republican primary in Wyoming
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