Yes, there is a Trump sycophant running for US Senate in Alaska. Read on to learn more about Kelly Tshibaka, including her plan to raise funds on a trip to Florida. Iʼll start with the election mechanics, then campaign issues and my own opinion, and close with suggestions for you, wherever you are.
Mechanics:
In 2022, Alaska will have an open primary. Candidates will have their own voter registration affiliation listed, but there will be one ballot. Top 4 candidates, without regard for party label, will advance. The general election will use ranked choice voting (instant runoff). Both of these are new in 2022.
Whoʼs Running:
Kelly Tshibaka (speaking, fundraising, federal filing) and Lisa Murkowski (federal filing and state certified candidate). There are double handful of other candidates, but no registered Democrat yet.
Campaigning
As we might expect, authenticity could be a campaign issue. Sen Murkowski is a known quantity. Here are two points that might be a problem for candidate Tshibaka:
- fishing - she wasnʼt properly licensed last summer when she shot a campaign video in which she was set-netting;
- claims parents were poor and homeless - because her parents lived in a tent during the pipeline boom. But, contemporary reporting points what folks remember: “You can buy a tent or a camper,” Mike Wallace of CBS reported after a trip to Fairbanks in 1975 about the housing options. “That’s the route thousands here have had to go, both homegrown Alaskans who are not making those fantastic wages with which to pay inflated rents.”
- came to Alaska recently to work for Governor Dunleavy and a high salary political plum of a job was created for her husband (she hadnʼt lived in Alaska after graduating high school).
My Opinion —
Actually, Iʼm more worried about Tshibaka the self-aggrandizing person. She is overtly religous, is a poor administrator who flouted contracting rules, was employed by the state just long enough to have her moving expenses paid, and is endorsed by Trump.
To sum up let me quote actualalaskan who posted
“Kelly Tshibaka, Trump’s puppet candidate for US Senate from Alaska. Tshibaka announced on November 3 that she will have a fundraiser at Mar-A-Lago in Florida next February. Then on November 11 she criticized Lisa Murkowski for receiving campaign contributions from outside Alaska.”
What can you do?
Read to keep up
radio, statewide, npr and pbs
newspaper, read all over the state
more opinion and analysis:
The Mudflats: News&Politics from the Upper Left Corner
Dermot Cole: Reporting From Alaska
Wickershamʼs Conscience
Give Money
I donʼt have a favorite candidate yet (did support and work for Al Gross last time), so hereʼs D party site AK Dems and the landing page today says “Ask Alaska State Senator Elvi Gray-Jackson to run for US Senate” and a voter education and advocacy organization Native Peoples Action .
WATCH and Talk About
what you see in your corner of the world too.