Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who represents 730,000 people in the furthest west state, announced her reelection campaign first to the East Coast media, while Alaskans were fast asleep early Friday morning.
The Washington Post had the scoop. One hour before Murkowski announced her campaign — at 6:58 am East Coast time and 2:58 am Alaska time — the Post had its story up. Politico had the story up at about the same time. It wasn’t until 8 am East Coast time that the official announcement went live on Twitter.
Later on Friday, Murkowski officially filed at the Division of Elections in Anchorage and then held a press conference to a select group of journalists.
Although Must Read Alaska was not on the invitation list for the press conference, KTUU reported Murkowski said that in an age when politics is polarizing, “I think a voice of … moderation, one that is looking to serve all Alaskans … not putting party interests over politics or performance, but just doing the best job I possibly can for the state.”
The Republican senator’s announcement was not a surprise. Must Read Alaska had broken the story earlier in the week that a Super PAC had been filed to support Murkowski’s 2022 run, and she has been raising a lot of money. It was unofficial, however, until Friday.
Murkowski has been in the Senate for four full terms, after finishing her father former Sen. Frank Murkowski’s term, when he became governor of Alaska.
