Republican Kelly Tshibaka filed to run in Alaska's U.S. Senate race against incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski. Her husband, Niki Tshibaka, accompanied her to the Division of Elections office in Anchorage on April 11.
ANCHORAGE (AP) - Alaska U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski continues to have a substantial cash advantage over her opponent backed by former President Donald Trump.
Murkowski, in office since 2002, brought in more than $1.5 million in the three-month period ending March 31, according to a filing with the Federal Election Commission.
Murkowski ended the quarter with $5.2 million on hand with no debt, the records show.
Republican Kelly Tshibaka, who is challenging Murkowski, raised $673,383 during the last quarter, a total that included donations from a fundraiser at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, which Trump attended, Tshibaka campaign spokesperson, Tim Murtaugh, told The Associated Press on Friday.
According to FEC records, Trump did not contribute to Tshibaka's campaign during the quarter. Factcheck.org reported Trump's Save America political action committee made a $5,000 donation last July.
As of March 31, Tshibaka had $967,600 on hand with just over $95,000 in debts.
Murtaugh said not all campaign contributions for the Mar-a-Lago event were recorded this quarter; some came in during the fourth quarter of 2021.
"Kelly Tshibaka raised more money in the first quarter of 2022 than she did in the last quarter of 2021 and she will have all the resources she needs to defeat Lisa Murkowski," Murtaugh said in an email.
Tshibaka is a former commissioner in the Alaska Department of Administration for Gov. Mike Dunleavy. She formerly worked in the offices of inspector general for the U.S. Postal Service, Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice, according to her resume.
Trump has said he would campaign for Tshibaka after vowing revenge against Murkowski, who voted to convict him in his second impeachment trial and called on Trump to resign after the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
"He said that he'll come up into a rally for us, and I think that'll be great for voter turnout," Tshibaka told reporters April 11 after filing for office at state election offices in Anchorage.
In addition to Murkowski and Tshibaka, 11 other candidates so far have filed with the state Division of Elections to run in the Senate race. None of the others had filed fundraising reports with the FEC as of Friday.
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