As the Alaska Republican Party holds its state convention this month, attention will naturally focus on the 2022 elections, most notably the selection of our next U.S. Senator. I’ve been running against incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski for over a year, and it’s clear that voters agree that it’s time for a change. 

Because of a new election law, approved narrowly through a referendum crafted and promoted by Murkowski’s political allies, we no longer hold party primaries in Alaska. All candidates from all parties will run in a “jungle” primary on August 16 with the top four advancing to the general election, where voters have the option to rank their choices. 

The reason for the change is obvious. There was no chance that Murkowski would win a Republican primary, so it was eliminated. And there’s good reason for Murkowski’s friends to think that way. 

Because of a lengthy list of votes betraying Alaskan values, the Alaska Republican Party censured Murkowski and told her not to call herself a Republican anymore. I was honored to receive the endorsement of the party, and in the absence of an actual primary, I am proud to be carrying the conservative mantle as the true Republican candidate in this race. 

All this is because Murkowski is a senator, owned by special interests, who casts votes simply to retain her popularity among the D.C. political elites.  

In fact, this is what inspired me to run against Murkowski. She cast the tie-breaking vote to advance the nomination of the radical environmentalist Deb Haaland for Interior Secretary. At the time, Murkowski even admitted Haaland would be harmful to our interests, yet she voted to confirm her anyway. 

Haaland, predictably, has gone on to lead President Joe Biden’s energy-annihilating agenda, which has targeted Alaska and killed our jobs.

And Murkowski has gone a lot further in cementing her place as Biden’s CEO – his Chief Enabling Officer. 

She’s voted to confirm more than 90 percent of his cabinet appointments, including Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, who moved to reinstate the “Roadless Rule” which cuts off our access to the Tongass National Forest. This was a huge blow to our timber and tourism industries and was another Biden job-killer. 

But it goes back longer than that. In 2011, Murkowski voted for Obama’s federal judicial nominee Sharon Gleason, calling her “superb.” Judge Gleason went on to kill both the multi-billion-dollar Willow oil and gas project – and the thousands of jobs that went with it – and the life-saving King Cove Road, which would link people living in the Aleutians with medical treatment.    

The most recent affront was her vote to confirm Biden nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court. Jackson will join the Court with a record of leniency towards child predators and will almost certainly be an activist jurist, writing legislation from the bench. 

Murkowski’s full-throated support of Obama and Biden judicial picks are in stark contrast to her blocking of President Trump’s conservative nominees to the Supreme Court. Murkowski opposed constitutionalist Justice Brett Kavanaugh and attempted to filibuster constitutionalist Justice Amy Coney Barrett.  

Sometimes Murkowski offers the excuse that the results wouldn’t have changed even if she had voted differently. This is faulty on several levels. First, it reflects her belief that her vote doesn’t matter, and that she no longer can even trade her votes to benefit Alaska. Second, it implies that she considered objecting to nominees she ultimately supported, for which there’s no evidence. And third, it’s a clear admission that her votes do not represent Alaska’s interests. 

If Lisa Murkowski will not stand up and raise hell when something is bad for Alaska, then she should clear out her offices and make room for someone who will.  

Instead, she continues to fund our Alaska senate seat with dark money contributions from Big Tech, radical environmentalists, and leftist organizations from the Lower 48. 

When I am the next senator from Alaska, I will stand up for our resource industries and revive our economy. I will fight for our rights, like the rights of parents to be involved in their children’s education, our constitutional and 2nd Amendment rights, and I will vote for only constitutionalist nominees. I will stand up against the horrendous Biden policies. And I will always side with Alaskans. 

A poll for our campaign shows us beating Murkowski in November, but it also shows that 84 percent of Republicans, including majorities of both men and women, are with us in this race. An amazing majority of undecided voters and half of independent voters hold a negative opinion of Murkowski, as well. 

These are the people who tell me over and over that their voices are not being heard in D.C. But I hear them, and they’re all saying, “It’s time for a change.” 

Kelly Tshibaka is a born-and-raised Alaskan, and a candidate for the U.S. Senate in Alaska who is endorsed by former President Donald Trump and the Alaska Republican Party. 

By Kelly Tshibaka

  Alaska, candidate, election, Kelly Tshibaka