JUNEAU (AP) — Kelly Tshibaka, who is running for the Alaska U.S. Senate seat held by fellow Republican Lisa Murkowski, has announced plans for a fundraiser hosted by former President Donald Trump in February at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.
“It’s a great honor to have the endorsement and enthusiastic support of President Trump and I am thrilled that he will be hosting this event,” Tshibaka said in a statement Nov. 3.
Tshibaka, a former commissioner of the state Department of Administration under Gov. Mike Dunleavy, announced plans in March to run for the Senate.
Murkowski has not formally announced any reelection plans but has been raising money. Tshibaka has lagged behind Murkowski in quarterly fundraising totals, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission.
The fact that two Republicans could be competing for the same U.S. Senate seat is less of an issue after Alaska voters last year passed an initiative to end political party primaries and institute ranked-choice voting for general elections.
Under the new system, the top four vote-getters in a primary race, regardless of party affiliation, will advance to the general election in November, with voters to rank their choices among the four.
If a candidate wins more than 50% of the vote in the general election, they would be declared the winner. If no one passes 50%, the Nos. 3 and 4 finishers would be eliminated from the tally and ballots cast for them would go to their second choices. The intent is that the winner would have the support of a majority of voters, even if the candidate is not their first choice.
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