Kelly Tshibaka, Alaska’s Commissioner of Administration, is expected to announce a Republican primary challenge to incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski in the 2022 midterms, Fox News has learned.
Tshibaka, who is set to announce her candidacy Monday, describes herself as a candidate to represent “a new generation of Alaska conservatives” and says she’ll portray herself as the candidate to rebuild the Alaskan economy, defend and rejuvinate small businesses and fight to protect the jobs of Alaskans in the energy industry.
Tshibaka will also campaign as a strong opponent to illegal immigration, a staunch defender of the Second Amendment and an advocate for the military. Her campaign also called her “unapologetically pro-life.”
“We know what Washington, D.C. thinks about Alaska: We’re here for their benefit, and we won’t put up much of a fight. After nearly 20 years in D.C., Lisa Murkowski thinks the same way,” Tshibaka says in a video being released by her campaign Monday. “But you know what? Nothing scares the D.C. political insiders more than the thought of a strong, independent Alaskan leader in their ranks. One they can’t bully. One they can’t control. One they can’t silence.”
She added: “I believe in a better future for Alaska. One we can rise up together and rebuild.”
“I’m running for the Alaskans who believe government is of the people, by the people, and for the people,” she continued. “The D.C. insiders need to be held accountable to us.”
Tshibaka’s announcement comes weeks after former President Donald Trump vowed to target Murkowski in the 2022 midterm elections — promising to travel to Alaska to campaign against her.
Trump, in a statement to Politico earlier this month, said he would “not be endorsing, under any circumstances, the failed candidate from the great State of Alaska, Lisa Murkowski.”
“She represents her state badly and her country even worse,” Trump said. “I do not know where other people will be next year, but I know where I will be–in Alaska campaigning against a disloyal and very bad Senator.”
Earlier this month, the Alaska Republican Party voted to censure Murkowski for her vote to convict Trump for her impeachment trial vote, and for several other votes she took that have angered Republicans in the state.
But Tshibaka is casting Murkowski as a Washington insider, and herself as a candidate who will work for the people of the state of Alaska.
“It is time we had a U.S. senator who represents Alaska to Washington, D.C., rather than one who represents D.C. insiders to Alaska,” Tshibaka said.
Tshibaka was born and raised in Alaska, and was the first in her family to pursue a college degree, and went on to law school. Her father who was a union electrician and Vietnam War veteran, and her mother was one of the first workers at the startup of Prudhoe Bay. Her parents were homeless and living in a tent at one point but “fought their way into the middle class.”
This is an excerpt from Fox News.
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