7 Alaskan GOP Committees Oppose Mitch McConnell Bullying Trump-Endorsed Kelly Tshibaka in Senate Race

Seven Alaskan Republican committees have issued a public rebuke of Sen. Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) financial influence behind 21-year incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) in opposition to Trump-endorsed Senate candidate Kelly Tshibaka.

McConnell, who has used his Senate Leadership Fund to fuel Murkowski’s campaign with about $9 million, is receiving backlash from Republican Alaska committees, which have each passed resolutions or public statements condemning McConnell’s “libelous and incessant ads” against Tshibaka, Must Read Alaska reported.

The list of the organizations opposing McConnell includes Kenai Peninsula Republican Women of Alaska, District 26 Republican Committee, Mat-Su Republican Women’s Club, three affiliate groups of the Alaska Republican Party (6, 9, 30), and the Anchorage Republican Women’s Club.

“[T]he committee of the District 26 of the Alaskan Republican Party condemns the divisive and misleading statements of Senator Mitch McConnell and the inappropriate use of millions of dollars from the Senate Leadership Fund to oppose our endorsed candidate, Kelly Tshibaka,” a resolution reads from the committee of District 26.

[W]e request the Senate Leadership Fund immediately stop the attack ads against Kelly Tshibaka and discontinue the support of all opposing candidates,” the committee concluded.

In March, the Alaska Republican Party voted to censure Murkowski and asked her to leave the Republican party after voting to impeach former President Donald Trump. Murkowski has refused to leave the party and has, instead, doubled down by working with Democrats. In the last two years, she has voted nine times with Democrats. If reelected, she has pledged to continue to aid the Democrats’ agenda.

“Lisa Murkowski was rejected by the Alaska Republican Party, asked not to run as a Republican. The only Republican running is Kelly Tshibaka. Mitch McConnell is breaking every rule there ever was regarding getting Republicans elected,” Alaska Republican Party chairman Tuckerman Babcock said in a statement.

McConnell’s fund has financially supported many attack ads against Tshibaka. The attacks have been so vicious that in September, an Alaskan radio station denied an ad against Tshibaka paid for by McConnell’s super PAC because it was “over the line in terms of decency.” Adviser to the Tshibaka campaign, Mary Ann Pruitt, said in a statement the ad was “full of lies and it’s good that people are recognizing that by refusing to air it.”

Trump has also noticed McConnell’s flood of support for his uniparty ally and has slammed him for spending money on the Alaskan race when other Republican candidates could use the much-needed funds.

“Kelly Tshibaka is doing very well in Alaska, probably leading horrendously bad Senator Lisa Murkowski, a Republican (barely!),” Trump stated in a press release. “The Democrat has no chance, and yet the Old Broken Crow, Mitchell McConnell, is authorizing $9 Million Dollars to be spent in order to beat a great Republican, Kelly, instead of $9 Million Dollars that could be used for Blake Masters, and other Republicans, that with this money would beat their Democrat opponent. Isn’t it ironic?”

Murkowski has outspent Tshibaka by about $7.5 million, yet polling shows Tshibaka is leading the polls. Eighty-five percent of Murkowski’s funds have come from out-of-state donors, such as McConnell and other establishment allies. The large percentage of the money raised by Murkowski outside the state raises questions about where her interests lie.

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