Alaska Republican U.S. Senate candidate Kelly Tshibaka today formally filed the paperwork to appear on the August primary ballot as a challenger to incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski. Tshibaka said she first decided to enter the race after Murkowski cast the tie-breaking vote to advance the nomination of Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, who has led President Joe Biden’s assault on Alaska’s energy industries. 

 

“I’m running for the Senate because it’s time for a change, and I want to fight for the Alaskans who fought for me,” Tshibaka said. “I owe everything to this state. My parents came to Alaska before I was born, were homeless for a while, but then pulled themselves into the working class after my mother got an oil job. I had the opportunities I’ve had because of the Alaskans who came around to help our family when we needed it, and I know that’s the same story countless other Alaskans can tell. When I’m the next U.S. senator from Alaska, I will always remember the Alaskans who elected me and what they’ve done for me.”

 

Tshibaka filed her paperwork at the Division of Elections in Anchorage before hosting the grand opening of a campaign office in the city later in the afternoon. Tshibaka initially launched her campaign just over a year ago on March 29, 2021, and she was endorsed by former President Donald J. Trump in June of last year.

 

Tshibaka says Murkowski’s overall record proves she has stopped listening to the people of Alaska.   

 

“Everywhere I have been in Alaska over the past year, people have told me the same thing: It’s time for a change,” Tshibaka said. “Whether it’s in rural Alaska or a city, no matter a person’s race, age, or gender, no matter if they’re retired, working, unemployed, or a stay-at-home mom or dad, people all feel the same way. Lisa Murkowski has forgotten all about them because she cares more about her popularity among the Washington, D.C. elites.”

 

Tshibaka’s top priority is to revive the Alaskan economy by protecting the jobs provided by resource industries and to stand against those who want to block access to the state’s natural resources. She will also fight to improve education and support a Parents’ Bill of Rights, and to regain access to Alaska land to develop it in ways that protect the environment. Tshibaka will always protect the 2nd Amendment and other constitutional rights. 

 

“Lisa Murkowski had her Senate seat literally handed to her by her father, so she’s never had to feel the sting of the bad decisions she’s made,” Tshibaka said. “Every time she votes with her Washington, D.C. friends against the interests of Alaskans, she harms the people of this state, but she doesn’t feel it. We, the people, pay the price for her popularity.”

 

Tshibaka will fight to build a jobs pipeline so young people can find work and stay in Alaska. She recognizes the need to construct housing for workers across the state, a necessary element to growing Alaska’s workforce. She will fight to reform health care, so it works for veterans, the vulnerable, and those needing mental health services. And she will stand for equal, legal, and safe immigration, and fight to restore voting rights, including integrity and security in our election systems.

 

Tshibaka says Murkowski has cast too many votes against the views and values of Alaskans.

 

“Just last week, Murkowski voted to confirm leftist Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson, who thinks the rules don’t apply her, has a record of leniency on child sex offenders, and can’t differentiate between the genders,” Tshibaka said. “Lisa Murkowski also opposed constitutionalist Justice Brett Kavanaugh and joined Democrats in an attempted filibuster of Justice Amy Coney Barrett. She also voted to allow illegal immigrants to remain in the country even after they committed multiple crimes against U.S. citizens. These are not the votes a senator from Alaska should be casting, but Murkowski has made poor decisions like this over and over.”

 

On the campaign trail, Tshibaka will highlight for voters the fact that Murkowski has voted to confirm more than 90 percent of Biden’s cabinet nominees. She has been a willing accomplice and cheerleader for an administration whose policies have harmed Alaska from the first day Joe Biden was in office.

 

Tshibaka grew up in Alaska, with a father who was a union electrician and Vietnam War veteran, and a mother who 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. She was the first in her family to pursue a college degree, beginning her studies at the University of Alaska Anchorage before graduating from college and then law school. She spent much of her career holding government insiders accountable and exposing waste, fraud, and abuse in various federal agencies. She returned home to Alaska to do the same thing in Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s administration before resigning to run against Lisa Murkowski.  She lives in Anchorage with her husband, Niki, and their five children.  

 

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