Trump-Endorsed Kelly Tshibaka Wins Endorsement of Former U.S. Senate Democrat Candidate

Trump-endorsed Kelly Tshibaka, Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate for Alaska, won on Wednesday the endorsement of Edgar Blatchford, a former U.S. Senate Democrat candidate and mayor of Seward.

Blatchford, who finished sixth in the all-party primary — which allowed the top four candidates, regardless of party, to advance — endorsed Tshibaka because “Tshibaka has a track record of delivering results in government,” Blatchford said in a press release.

Democratic candidate for U.S. Sen. Edgar Blatchford makes his ballot preference known as he prepares to vote in Anchorage, Alaska, Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016. (Michael Dinneen/AP)

Other than serving as the Mayor of Seward, a city south of Anchorage with about 2,000 inhabitants, Blatchford served as the Commissioner of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development under former Gov. Frank Murkowski, who in 2002 appointed his daughter, Lisa Murkowski, to the Senate seat he vacated when he became governor.

Both Blatchford and Tshibaka share many common goals, some of which are improving public safety, establishing reliable broadband internet capacity throughout Alaska, encouraging entrepreneurship in rural communities, and providing tax incentives for investing in village corporations or hiring Alaskans.
“I ran for U.S. Senate because Alaska Natives have been made many promises for decades, but Lisa Murkowski has not delivered,” Blatchford said. “Kelly Tshibaka has a track record of delivering results in government, including making thousands of jobs available in rural Alaska. Actions speak louder than words, and Tshibaka has shown by her actions that she will improve the quality of life for Alaskans. Tshibaka will work across the aisle to solve issues at a local level, particularly for Alaska Natives.”

Tshibaka issued a statement thanking Blatchford for his support, which may come in handy, especially given the ranked-choice voting system. “I am honored to have Edgar Blatchford’s endorsement,” Tshibaka said. “As a prominent Alaska Native leader in our community, Edgar’s counsel on issues has been especially valuable to me.”

Twenty-one year incumbent Murkowski’s best chance of defeating Tshibaka could be Democrat voters, which makes Blatchford’s endorsement notable. The Alaskan ranked-choice voting system is unusual. Breitbart News previously reported about how it works:

All candidates from all parties appear on the ballot together in the August primary. The top four vote-getters regardless of party then advance to the general election, and there voters are given the opportunity to pick their top choice, as well as their second and third choices. If no candidate in the first round of voters’ first choices gets 50 percent of the vote, the last place candidate’s second choices are distributed across the remaining three candidates to see if someone can get across the majority threshold. If that fails again to produce a majority vote-getter, then a third round is conducted where the third place candidate’s votes are redistributed according to second choices between the remaining two candidates.

The voting system could play into Murkowski’s hands. But Tshibaka’s campaign adviser Tim Murtaugh told Breitbart News that “Murkowski has shown that on important issues, neither side can trust her.”

“Alaskans are outraged at Joe Biden’s attacks on their energy jobs, which has resulted in astronomical fuel prices, and they’re furious that Lisa Murkowski cast the tie-breaking vote to advance the nomination of energy-annihilating Interior Secretary Deb Haaland,” Murtaugh explained.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) questions Interior Secretary Haaland during a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing on the budget, Wednesday, July 13, 2022, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Mariam Zuhaib/AP)

Murkowski has voted with Senate Democrats ten times in the last two years. Those votes include (1) Gun Control, (2) Corporate Bailout, (3) Confirmation of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, (4) $1.5 Trillion Omnibus Spending, (5) Federalizing Local Elections, (6) $1.2 Trillion “Infrastructure” Bill, (7) Confirmation of Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta, (8) Confirmation of DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, (9) Confirmation of Haaland, and (10) Impeachment of Donald Trump.

In the August 16 primary, Tshibaka finished a few points behind Murkowski, far better than the polling indicated. Both advanced to the general election in November.

ANCHORAGE, ALASKA – JULY 09: Republican U.S. Senate candidate Kelly Tshibaka pumps her fist as former U.S. President Donald Trump looks on during a “Save America” rally at Alaska Airlines Center on July 09, 2022, in Anchorage, Alaska. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.