Wednesday, August 5, 2026
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Analysis: Murkowski could place second in the primary

If the week’s political events showed anything, it’s how unloved Sen. Lisa Murkowski is by many, perhaps a majority, of Alaska voters. Murkowski showed up at an Americans for Prosperity event in Anchorage where people were filling up their tanks for half price, compliments of AFP.

The motorists and volunteers who observed Murkowski’s presence at the event were furious. People in line for the $2.38 gas wanted to know what Murkowski was doing at the event; they grew suspicious that this was really a stealth Murkowski campaign event. Keyboard warriors went to town on Murkowski and openly criticized AFP for allowing her to attend.

The truth is that Americans for Prosperity Alaska had invited both Murkowski and Sen. Dan Sullivan to come and talk to real Alaskans, not just spend all their days with the high-and-mighties sitting in the conferences and board rooms trying to divvy up the federal broadband money coming from the government printing shop. AFP would have invited Congressman Don Young, if he was still alive. In this case, only Murkowski showed up, and it went downhill from there.

The lesson is clear: Murkowski makes everyday Alaskans mad, and makes Republican voters the maddest.

The senator, although she has a significant war chest, has headwinds in the primary on Aug. 16. She appears unworried, but her performance in the past two primaries is a warning light on the dash: In 2016, her last general election, she won just 44.4% of the vote, becoming the first senator in U.S. history to win three elections to the U.S. Senate without winning a majority.

Murkowski, the pundits say, is a shoo-in in November because she is protected by Ballot Measure 2’s ranked choice voting scheme and because she doesn’t face a Republican primary next week.

Republican analysts also say, however, she will not be in first place in the primary, and that as a sitting senator, it will look bad for her. She has Republican Party-endorsed Kelly Tshibaka on her right, and Pat Chesbro and Edgar Blatchford as her leading Democrat opponents.

Overall, there are 19 candidates on the Senate jungle primary ballot. Eight of them are Republicans and three are Democrats. This makes it hard for any Republican candidate to have a solid showing, but it’s hardest for Murkowski, who should be able to get over 44%. If she does not, it could be embarrassing for her campaign.

Some strategists now think there is a high chance Tshibaka will come in first on the primary ballot, and Murkowski may even come in third, behind Chesbro, the Democrat who has the Democrat Party’s endorsement. The Libertarian, Sean Thorne, may be the fourth-place winner for the November ballot.

The August primary is one in which super voters show up. It’s usually a low-turnout election because it’s fishing season, wood-gathering season, berry harvesting season and the final parties of summer.

Tshibaka’s base is invigorated. This is the best chance they have of replacing Murkowski.

Other pundits believe that the race becomes much tougher in November, when Murkowski expects to do well in ranked choice voting, with people who mark Chesbro first marking Murkowski second to give her the 50+1 she needs.

A Democrat-funded group called Protect the Vote, has now said the quiet part out loud: Chesbro can’t win in November. In its recent email, the group asked people to donate to its “Ally Protection Fund.” Here’s what else the group said:

“An Alaska Survey Research poll is showing Lisa Murkowski leading her Trump-endorsed opponent, Kelly Tshibaka, by only 4%.

“Yes, only 4%. This is not good. The Senator has proven herself to be a critical ally to Democrats. Because of her bipartisan support she now finds herself in a tough re-election fight against a well-funded MAGA-first opponent.”

The group, Protect the Vote, knows Murkowski can be easily linked to Biden, and Biden is very unpopular in Alaska.

“Donald Trump will do anything to see Lisa Murkowski lose. That is why we need to step in. We may not agree on every issue, but Democrats need her commonsense leadership in the U.S. Senate,” Protect the Vote says.

“Donate to our Ally Protection Fund today. Lisa Murkowski needs our help. Democrats need her to hold this Senate seat against her far-right opponent. Your leadership contribution will immediately go towards providing her with early television ads, digital ads, billboards, mailers, and boots on the ground,” the group pleads with donors.

Then it goes all-in to explain that Murkowski is a Democrat ally:

Protect the Vote PAC describes itself as a “Democratic organization on the front lines of providing critical support to federal campaigns for President, U.S. Senate and U.S. House.” 

Murkowski’s coalition has always been a combination of nonpartisans, undeclared voters, libertarians and Democrats, according to Cook Political Report, which points out that Murkowski is financially stronger heading into the final stretch of the primary. As of July 27, Murkowski had $5.3 million cash on hand. Tshibaka had just over $808,000 cash on hand.  

Murkowski has spent $1.1 million on television ads, and the superPAC, Alaskans for Lisa, has spent $1.2 million on TV.

Tshibaka has only spent $174,000 for television.

Senate Leadership Fund money, which is divvied up by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, will add another $7.3 million for advertising for Murkowski, highlighting her seniority and ability to get money for Alaska.

Voter management system used in Alaska tied to leftist activists and Democrat operatives

By VICTORIA MARSHALL | THE FEDERALIST

A prominent voter-roll management system used by 31 states, including Alaska and the District of Columbia has politically compromised ties, according to a new report by independent research group VerityVote.

The Electronic Registration Information Center, or ERIC, was sold to states like Alaska as a quick and easy way to update their voter rolls. Started in 2012 by far-left activist David Becker and the left-leaning Pew Charitable Trusts, the program is ostensibly run by the member states themselves.

But as public records show, Democratic operatives are working overtime under the cover of ERIC to accomplish their partisan goals and drive Democratic voter turnout. 

Becker’s left-wing ties have long concerned Republican state officials participating in ERIC. Before he started ERIC, Becker worked as a lobbyist for People for the American Way, a George Soros-funded advocacy group best known for the Right Wing Watch project, a website that catalogs and attacks conservative politicians and movements.

Before that, though, he was a Justice Department attorney whom colleagues remember as a “hard-core leftist” who “couldn’t stand conservatives.” 

While at the Department of Justice, Becker became the subject of an ethics complaint after he contacted Boston and offered his help in defeating a lawsuit made against the city by his employer for voting infractions. Becker “was supposed to be nonpartisan, but his emails uncovered in the Boston investigation revealed nasty, disparaging remarks about Republicans. Very unethical and unprofessional,” according to Hans von Spakovsky, former counsel to the assistant attorney general for civil rights at the time.

After his stint at the Department of Justice and People for the American Way, Becker became the director of election initiatives at Pew Charitable Trusts, where he organized the creation of ERIC in 2012. Though Becker officially left ERIC in 2016, public records show he has continued to play a strong role in the organization, coordinating with state officials on ERIC-related activities and even running ERIC meetings. Documentation of that role is provided in Verity’s report. This is in violation of ERIC’s bylaws as Becker is a “non-voting board member” of ERIC and should not have the power to direct projects.

While Becker is a shrewd activist, ERIC member secretaries of state describe him as charming and brilliant. Becker is known to host swanky, all-access-paid election integrity conferences for state election officials and their spouses.

Read more at The Federalist.

Kelly Tshibaka: It’s time for a change in Senate

By KELLY TSHIBAKA

Since I first announced my candidacy for the U.S. Senate, I’ve traveled enough miles within Alaska to circumnavigate the globe. The overwhelming sentiment I’ve heard from thousands of Alaskans is that “it’s time for a change” in our representation.

Alaskans are frustrated by the direction of the country and alarmed at how Washington, D.C. policies are specifically targeting us. The Biden administration, and the entrenched D.C. incumbents who support Biden, are attacking our economy, our freedoms, and our very way of life.

But we’ve had enough.

When I’m your senator, you will always know where I stand and will never have to guess. I’m laying out my agenda, appropriately called “It’s Time for a Change,” in which I pledge to side with Alaskans against the political elites at every turn. You can find these policies and principles at www.KellyforAK.com.

I will fight to revive our economy and defend our resource industries against radical environmentalists who are relentless in their desire to turn Alaska into a national park for the rest of the country. 

I will stand up for our God-given, basic constitutional rights, which have been eroded by people in D.C. This includes parents’ rights to be involved in their children’s education and our 2nd Amendment rights.

I will work to reform healthcare so we provide more mental health resources, get veterans their benefits in record time, and care for vulnerable Alaskans. 

I will support only immigration policies which are equally applied, secure our border, and provide safe immigration.

I will fight to protect the integrity of our elections so that every eligible voter is able to vote once and have it counted.

I will fight for life and pro-family policies, including supporting the availability of birth control, and increased funding for clinics providing non-abortive healthcare services for women. 

And I will hear the voices of the forgotten Alaskans, who will no longer be ignored.

It was through the help of fellow Alaskans that my family was able to build the American Dream. My parents were homeless for a time in Anchorage before I was born, but my mother landed a job at Prudhoe Bay, which allowed them to fight their way into the working class. I became the first in our family to pursue a college degree, starting at UAA before graduating from college and law school.

My family and I owe everything to Alaskans, and in the Senate, I will support you because you supported me.

But our current senior senator doesn’t tell you the truth, saying one thing here in Alaska and doing the opposite in Washington, D.C. 

She brags about writing the “infrastructure” bill but doesn’t tell you that the radical extremists she cut deals with are piling up mountains of new regulations, which will drive inflation so high that it will prevent Alaska from seeingadditional funding anytime soon, if at all. We’re not going to get any new roads or bridges out of that massive spending bill.

She runs ads here in Alaska touting her support for the 2nd Amendment, but voted for Joe Biden’s gun control package, resulting in her losing the NRA’s endorsement.

Even pro-choice voters can’t trust her because she claims to be with them, but voted against the Democrats’ effort to codify Roe v. Wade earlier this year. On the other hand, she claims she doesn’t support late-term abortions or taxpayer funded abortions, but she introduced legislation to protect late-term abortions and has voted repeatedly to send taxpayer funds to national abortion providers.

And her latest lie is telling people that I don’t support access to birth control pills, even though I’ve taken them myself and believe they should be widely available for the many different reasons women use them. Birth control pills are not the same as abortion pills.

I am proud to be the endorsed Republican candidate in this election, supported by the Alaska Republican Party and by former President Donald Trump. And it’s clear that we are at a point where the next senator can either stand with Alaska or continue to enable the disastrous Biden administration that is damaging us more every day.

When I’m the next senator from Alaska, I will never forget the Alaskans who elected me, and I will always stand for the values of the people of this great state. 

In the primary on August 16, and again on November 8, I ask for your vote because most of us agree that 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.

Art Chance: IRS, armed to the hilt, comes knocking to ‘protect our democracy’

By ART CHANCE

It is with ignorance and cynicism that Left has adopted the phrase, “protect our democracy.” The very last thing the Left wants to protect is democracy; they don’t believe in freedom of speech, assembly, or religion. They don’t believe in due process. They don’t believe in equal protection.   

I can go on. They fundamentally don’t believe in, but in fact despise, our constitutional republic. 

Autocratic governments have been very good at catchy slogans. The Nazis really pushed protecting “community values,” and “protecting the racial health” of Germany. If you read German law in the Nazi period, you find that most court decisions include the statement that the decision is supported by “the healthy opinion of the Volk.”  A derivative of this is the notion of the “Fuhrer Princip,” which means Fuhrer’s dictate supersedes law, has absolute power.

In Germany in the 1930s, the Nazi Party’s “brownshirts” enforced the community values of Germany. If you’ve had any world history courses you might recall an event called the Kristallnacht, or the Night of Broken Glass, when the brownshirts destroyed the shops and homes of Jewish merchants throughout Germany. The brownshirts were the Nazi bully boys and they broke heads and broke the opposition to the Nazis. 

However, when the Nazis rose to real power, they found the brownshirts to be a threat. Much of the upper leadership of the brownshirts was also homosexual, which didn’t sit well with Nazi leadership. The Nazis launched a raid on the brownshirts and took most of the leadership into custody. Some were summarily shot, others took a little longer. Nazi propaganda said that some leaders were found in bed with young males. The brownshirts all but ceased to exist as a political force in Germany to be replaced by the Schutzstaffel, or SS, the guys with the black uniforms. If you know any history, the midnight knock at the door and the demand for papers on the train still resonates.

As the Nazis reached legitimized power, they consolidated into well-organized units and suppressed much of their prior thuggish tendencies. When you have real power you don’t have to just ambush a guy in the alley and beat him to death, you just send some guys with uniforms and badges, take him to the station, and put a 9mm in the back of his head.

As the Nazis consolidated power, they consolidated their organization and the SS became the primary arm of state political and law enforcement power. The Nazis encouraged, really demanded, informing on neighbors, family, and associates. Children were encouraged to inform on parents. The Nazis were first and foremost shake-down artists, and there was a price for everything in Nazi Germany. We’ve seen that in the Democrat cities for the last 50 years or so; if you want to play, you pay.

The George Soros Junta has consolidated its power in the Biden Regime after its setback with Trump’s Administration. The federal bureaucracy had thwarted the Trump Administration’s attempts to install its own people in significant positions. The Biden Administration inherited the Obama Administration, still mostly in place, and most of it went all the way back to the Clinton Administration since George W. Bush, like Trump, was really only able to replace the prominent positions. 

In essence the federal government is an occupying Democrat Party army. There are a few Republicans/conservatives left in it but they’re registered as independents, they talk quietly, and they meet only in out-of-the-way places where they’re unlikely to be seen together.

In a blinding flash of honesty, Comrade Obama actually said out loud what the Democrats really wanted, a Democrat armed force under federal executive branch control. Despite the best efforts of the Democrats to replace the leadership of the military with “woke” perfumed princes, the military is still somewhat traditional and still believes in old-fashioned notions of patriotism and loyalty. 

Most of the alphabet soup of federal agencies have some armed contingent, just in case the Department of Commerce needs to send a SWAT to intervene before someone tears that label off their new mattress. The problem for the Democrats is that 200 years of history has put some pretty strong barriers around federal use of these powers.   

The Trump era showed us that the Democrats can usually find a district court judge or even a circuit court who’ll give them a “great service,” but they were mostly unsuccessful in the circuits and almost totally unsuccessful at the Supreme Court level. Comrade Obama, or whoever was pulling his strings, realized that they needed some military force that could act under relatively independent authority.

Comrade Obama found willing accomplices in the Internal Revenue Service when he attacked conservative non-profit organizations; Lois Lerner, who headed the IRS, was a hero of the People’s Republic as she stymied revanchist political groups and militias a-borning. She’s enjoying her six-figure retirement rather than the 6 x 8 cell she deserves. Comrade Obama never realized his ambition of having a private army under his sole control. Now Slo’ Joe and the Democrat Congress are poised to establish one.

The fraudulently named “Inflation Reduction Act” is going to give the Internal Revenue Service $80 billion to hire 87,000 new IRS agents, ostensibly to ferret out all the 1%-ers who are cheating on their taxes. 

News flash for all the people who went to government schools in the last 40 years or who watch CNN: 1%-ers, and even 10%-ers don’t really cheat on their taxes; they have lawyers and accountants who are better at tax law than some GS-11 IRS agent who knows she can’t be fired. Tax cheating is the province of the struggling small business person and the working class guy working under the table. Guess who the IRS will be going after?

The other people they’ll be going after are the nonprofits whose activities are not coordinated with Democratic Party objectives. The Nazis had a word for it: “Gliechshalstung,” which roughly translates to coordination. It is lost to young, ignorant minds that the Nazis were the National Socialist Party and they confiscated private property with alacrity. Some they kept as a Party asset, some they gave to Party supporters. Lots of good Nazis got the homes and businesses of Jews who were getting a train ride east. But, if you agreed to coordinate your business’s activities with the objectives of the Party, you could keep your business and some of its profits.   

We soften it a bit here in the US by calling it crony capitalism, but the Democrats are masters at it; there is a reason most of the prominent billionaires are Democrats. Zuckerberg, et al., will do most anything to keep the Democrats from deciding to tax or regulate their business(es).

One might take comfort in the fact that there is no way the federal government can recruit and hire 87,000 IRS Agents. Superficially, the job requires a college degree for entry and starts in the mid-$30s without geographic adjustment. In reality, most make $60,000-$80,000 and some considerably more. 

Some number of the new agents will be “special agents” with law enforcement authority and a whole new trove of true weapons of war provided by the federal government. That ugly black rifle carried by the county Mountie or local policeman is likely a semi-automatic AR-15 clone. The firearm the federal law enforcement officer carries is the real thing, an M-4 or M-16 capable of automatic fire and nobody questions how many rounds of ammunition they can carry.

There is no way to recruit 87,000 people who could meet the minimum qualifications for even the lowest level of this job classification. They will use a combination of affirmative action and some sort of diversity scam to make these employees patronage hires. Lots of Antifa punks will be able to escape their mothers’ basements and become well-paid federal law enforcement officers. These people will be thugs under the control of the Democrat party.

I can see them now in their “TactiCool” uniforms, black of course. These are the people hired to kick in your door and stick an automatic weapon in your wife and kids’ faces so they can review your 1040 EZ. All they have to do is enact some federal tax on firearms and they can come and examine your gun safe to make sure you’re paying the proper taxes on any weapons you might own. This is the face of the Democrats’ private army, just as well-armed as the real Army.

Invest in precious metals.

Art Chance is a retired Director of Labor Relations for the State of Alaska, formerly of Juneau and now living in Anchorage. He is the author of the book, “Red on Blue, Establishing a Republican Governance,” available at Amazon.

Art Chance: Palin is finishing what she started, as every Democrat’s favorite Republican

Listicle: Mayor Dave Bronson says he’s voting for Nick Begich first, joins dozens of other elected leaders in Alaska

On the Dan Fagan Show (650 KENI) on Thursday, Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson joined dozens of other elected officials in Alaska in supporting Republican Party-endorsed Nick Begich for Congress. Bronson called in to the show to say he plans to rank Begich first on the Aug. 16 ballot. Last week, Amy Demboski, Anchorage City Manager, also endorsed Begich.

Nick has been endorsed by these former and currently elected officials

  1. Amy Demboski, former Anchorage Assembly member and current municipal manager
  2. Jesse Sumner – Matanuska-Susitna Borough Assembly Member
  3. Jamie Allard – Anchorage Assembly member
  4. Michael Welch – North Pole Mayor 
  5. Glenda Ledford – Wasilla Mayor 
  6. Charlie Pierce – Kenai Borough Mayor 
  7. Mark Jensen – Petersburg Mayor 
  8. Jubilee Underwood – Mat-Su School Board
  9. Shelley Hughes – Senate Majority Leader 
  10. Mike Cronk – State House Member
  11. Dee McKee – Matanuska-Susitna Borough Assembly member
  12. Ken McCarty – State House member
  13. Kevin McCabe – State House member
  14. Rob Yundt – Matanuska-Susitna Borough Assembly member
  15. Crystal Kennedy – Anchorage Assembly
  16. Pamela Melin – Palmer Deputy Mayor
  17. Teea Winger – Kenai Council member
  18. Thomas Bergey – Mat-Su School Board
  19. Roger Holland – State Senator
  20. Tom McKay – State House member
  21. Pete Kelly – Former Alaska State Senate President
  22. Mike Prax – State House member
  23. Ron Gillham – State House member
  24. Jai Mahtani – Ketchikan City Council
  25. Bill Elam – Kenai Borough Assembly member
  26. Lynn Gattis – Former State House member
  27. George McKee – Former Matanuska-Susitna Borough Assembly member
  28. Mike Shower – State Senator
  29. Richard Derkevorkian – Kenai Borough Assembly member
  30. Clay Koplin – Cordova Mayor
  31. Sarah Vance – State House member
  32. Ben Carpenter – State House member
  33. Josh Verhagen – Mayor of Nenana
  34. Matthew Sampson – Fairbanks North Star Borough School District School Board
  35. Jimi Cash – Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly
  36. Charisse Millett – Former Alaska House Majority Leader
  37. Dan Kendall – Former Anchorage Assembly member
  38. Ralph Seekins – Former State Senator
  39. Dick Randolph – Former State House Member
  40. John Coghill – Former State Senator
  41. Robert Myers – State Senator
  42. Steve Thompson – Former State House Member
  43. George Rauscher – State House Member
  44. Cathy Tilton – State House Minority Leader
  45. Mia Costello – State Senator
  46. Bill Overway – Mayor of Kachemak City
  47. Jim Matherly – Mayor of Fairbanks
  48. Randy Sulte – Anchorage Assemblyman
  49. Rhonda Boyles – Former Fairbanks North Star Borough Mayor
  50. Bill Stoltze – Former State Senator
  51. Bryce Ward – Fairbanks North Star Borough Mayor
  52. Ken Koelsch-R, former mayor of Juneau
  53. Rhonda Boyles, former mayor of Fairbanks

Nick Begich has also received endorsements from:

  • Associated Builders and Contractors, Alaska Chapter
  • Alaska Outdoor Council
  • Anchorage Young Republicans
  • Mat-Su Young Republicans
  • Eagle River District 22 Republicans
  • Homer District 6 Republicans
  • Interior District 36 Republicans
  • Kenai Peninsula Republican Women of Alaska
  • Republican Women of Fairbanks
  • Mat-Su Republican Women’s Club
  • Valdez and Mat-Su District 29 Republicans
  • North Pole District 33 Republicans
  • Americans for Prosperity Action
  • HOTL PAC
  • FreedomWorks
  • Mat-Su District 25 Republicans
  • Alaska Republican Party
  • Fairbanks District 35 Republicans
  • John Sturgeon
  • Eddie Grasser

Sarah Palin, also running for Congress, but not endorsed by any Republican entity in Alaska, has a list of endorsements from Outside that includes Donald Trump, but the number of leaders from inside the state is fairly modest. It is comprised of former State Sen. Jerry Ward, currently on her campaign staff, and former Alaska DNR Commissioner Tom Irwin, who worked for Palin’s Administration when ACES was signed into law, ushering in punishing oil and gas taxes on companies and driving investment from the state.

Green New Deal in Inflation Reduction Act: Bill has money for EPA to oversee companies’ greenhouse goals

The Environmental Protection Agency will have the resources to get inside the books of thousands of American businesses to check on their climate goals, when the House passes the Senate’s Inflation Reduction Act package on Friday, as it is expected to do.

The bill itself has billions of dollars in tax credits for clean energy goals and for companies investing in “decarbonization.” It has another $5 million for the EPA to scrutinize corporations on their greenhouse gas emission promises and other climate-related company goals, and make sure that those company promises and goals are being met.

Included in the Inflation Reduction Act is language to create “enhanced standardization and transparency of corporate climate action commitments and plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.” The EPA will further have a bigger role in overseeing progress by companies toward climate goals, but the bill is vague on what authority the EPA will actually have in forcing companies to meet EPA objectives.

Also in the Inflation Reduction Act are numerous laws to force the reduction of methane emissions, and a federal levy of up to $1,500 per ton on emissions from oil and gas companies, pipeline operators, and other power generators. The fee would cover about 40% of emissions.

The funds are shielded in such a way that even if the House flips to Republican control this year, lawmakers won’t be able to claw back that appropriation. That is because the EPA has until 2031 to use the money and any other resources appropriated to it for that purpose.

The bottom line is that the Inflation Reduction Act gives the EPA authority to force companies not only to have climate goals, but to disclose those goals to the government and allow the government to ensure they are met. This is part of the Biden administration’s agenda to cut greenhouse emissions by 52% by 2030.

New Donald Trump video, ‘Nation in Decline,’ uses plenty of footage from Anchorage rally, with crowd shots

In a new video that was released on Tuesday, former President Donald Trump talks about the failings of the Biden Administration and what it has meant in America — the decline of our energy independence, the shameful abandonment of both living and killed Americans in Afghanistan, and the economy in a downward spiral.

During the video, he hearkens to familiar themes, however, saying, “We will not bend. We will not break. We will not yield.”

The video pans the crowd, which happens to be in Anchorage, Alaska at the Trump Save America rally in July. The crowd is cheering.

In Alaska, Trump closed his speech with these sentences, which he repeats at almost all of his Save America rallies, in one form or another:

“But we are not going to let this continue. Two years ago we had the greatest, and I mean like never before economy and the greatest country. We were doing so well. Everybody — African American, Hispanic, American Asian, American women, men, high school diploma, people with no diploma from high school, People with PhDs from M.I.T. and Harvard, and the Wharton School of Finance and all of these great schools — everybody was doing well. Women, especially women doing well. Everybody.

“But soon we will have greatness again. It was hard working patriots like you who built this country and it is hardworking patriots like you who are going to save our country. We will stand up to the radical left lunatics and the RINOs and we will fight for America like no one has ever fought before. Get rid of Lisa Murkowski. Get rid of Lisa.

“There is no mountain we cannot climb. There is no summit we cannot reach. There is no challenge we cannot meet. There is no victory, We cannot have, we will not bend, We will not break. We will not yield ever, ever, ever, ever. We will never give in. We will never give up and we will never ever back down. We will never let you down. As long as we are confident and united, the tyrants we’re fighting do not stand even a little chance, because we are Americans and Americans kneel to God and God alone. My fellow citizens, this incredible journey we are on together has only just begun, and it is time to start talking about greatness for our country. Greatness again. We don’t talk about greatness anywhere. We talk about problems. We talk about crime, we talk about taking power away from our police. We talk about a woke military. Do you believe this? We are one movement. One people, one family and one
glorious American nation. So with the help of everyone here today and the citizens all across our land, we will make America powerful again.”

Donald Trump takes the Fifth in NY real estate inquiry

Two days after his home in Mar-A-Lago was raided by the FBI, ostensibly in search of classified documents that belong to the National Archives, former President Donald Trump appeared before investigators for the New York Attorney General to answer questions about business practices of the Trump Organization, based in New York City.

According to Trump, he invoked his Fifth Amendment, the right to refuse to answer the questions, more than 400 times. He simply repeated, “Same answer as before” each time, answering only one question.

For years, Attorney General Letitia James has been trying to prove that Trump fraudulently inflated or deflated the value of his real estate properties to gain advantages in property taxes and loan terms. James, a Democrat, campaigned on taking down Trump and began her investigation shortly after being elected in 2019.

The deposition had been scheduled before the FBI raid on Mar-A-Lago. However, it had been postponed until after the Trump family buried and mourned the death of Trump’s former wife, Ivana, who died July 14.

““Under the advice of my counsel and for all of the above reasons, I declined to answer the questions under the rights and privileges afforded to every citizen under the United States Constitution,” Trump said in a statement after the deposition, which lasted at least four hours. Trump was in the Attorney General’s offices for about six hours altogether.

Before he went in for the desposition, he wrote a statement on Truth Social: “In New York City tonight. Seeing racist N.Y.S. Attorney General tomorrow, for a continuation of the greatest Witch Hunt in U.S. history! My great company, and myself, are being attacked from all sides. Banana Republic!” Attorney General James took part in the questioning, sources reported.

In a statement on Wednesday, Trump also said, “I once asked, ‘If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?’ Now I know the answer to that question. When your family, your company, and all the people in your orbit have become the targets of an unfounded politically motivated Witch Hunt supported by lawyers, prosecutors and the Fake News Media, you have no choice.”

Meanwhile, more leaders are speaking out about the Monday raid, when 40 or more FBI agents broke into Mar-A-Lago and occupied it for 9.5 hours. The FBI and Department of Justice have remained silent on the raid.

Regarding that raid for documents, Trump wrote, “At the end of his presidency, Barack Obama trucked 30 million pages of his administration’s records to Chicago, promising to digitize them and eventually put them online — a move that outraged historians. More than five years after Obama’s presidency ended, the National Archives webpage reveals that zero pages have been digitized and disclosed.”

Notes from trail: Report shows Tshibaka has raised more funds than any past challenger to Murkowski

How many have voted? 13,568 people have early voted or absentee voted in the Aug. 16 primary, as of yesterday’s Division of Elections report. There were 23,900+ absentee ballots mailed to voters who requested them, and a substantially higher number of those went to Republican voters.

A fundraising metric: As of last week, Republican Senate candidate Kelly Tshibaka had raised over $3.4 million, which is more than any other Republican challenger has ever raised against Murkowski. Joe Miller raised $3.36 million in 2010. That said, Murkowski has still raised a mountain of cash and is spending it. Murkowski raised $7.48 million and has over $5 million cash on hand, and there is a lot more money coming from an independent expenditure group and from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Other fundraising metrics: From Open Secrets, a couple of charts on the fundraising in the Begich-Peltola-Palin congressional race as of Aug. 4:

Dunleavy dominates in governor’s race: In the latest fundraising report from Alaska Public Offices Commission, Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s campaign had raised $213,000, more than double that of challengers Bill Walker and Les Gara combined.

Walker had raised $59,000 and Gara brought in $52,000 for the quarter. Walker has $591,000 cash on hand, while Dunleavy has $864,000 cash on hand.

Walker world: Bill Walker is in Sitka for a fundraiser on Thursday. He is locking up the Sitka vote, as this is his third trip there in the past few months.

Les Gara land: The City of Dillingham has been a gracious host to Gara for governor that it even (probably) illegally posted his campaign event on the city’s event calendar, as shown above. Gara and his crew will be sign waving at Old Seward and Northern Lights Blvd. in Anchorage on Aug. 15.

Mary Peltola: The final-week strategy for congressional candidate Mary Peltola seems to be to keep her mouth shut so no one knows how liberal she really is. She may be trying to run on her “nice” reputation at this point. Even Sarah Palin, running as a Republican, compliments “nice” Peltola, the Democrat. But the Alaska Republican Party has been putting out multiple mailers tying to her to Biden and Democrats and telling voters not to rank Peltola at all in the special general election. As time runs short, Peltola has not put out a Facebook post for three days, after her performance in Kenai in which she said there is no hope for drilling in ANWR. In the past she has said she supports Critical Race Theory being taught in schools, so maybe her campaign is using silence as a strategy.

From the Federal Election Commission reports: Peltola has paid Ship Creek Group about $50,000 for campaign services. Ship Creek Group was founded and is run by the campaign manager for Walker-Mallott in 2018.

Endorsements: Former Rep. Jennifer Johnston, Republican, has endorsed Bill Walker for governor. Johnston lost to Rep. James Kaufman in 2020.

District 35 Fairbanks Republicans had an endorsement meeting with Sen. Click Bishop and his Republican challenger Elijah Verhagen on Wednesday, and Verhagen got the endorsement, while Sen. Bishop did not. Both of Verhagen’s districts now have endorsed him, as well as the Republican State Central Committee.

Cook Report says Palin is polarizing, Peltola has a path: “There’s no more confusing House race in the country than Alaska, where two Republicans with famous names — former Gov. Sarah Palin and software businessman Nick Begich III are vying against Democrat Mary Peltola in an August 16 special election under the state’s newly installed ranked-choice, instant-runoff voting rules. And by the way, a 22-way all-party primary for the full term is also playing out on the same ballot.

“In the first round of voting on June 11, Palin finished first in the top-four jungle primary with 27%, Begich came in second with 19%, independent candidate Al Gross came in third with 13% and Peltola advanced in fourth with 10%. But days later, Gross dropped out of the August 16 runoff, throwing his support to Peltola. A state judge subsequently ruled that the fifth-place finisher, Republican Tara Sweeney, was ineligible to advance to the runoff.”

“Both parties’ consultants agree Peltola is now on track to finish first in the initial ranked-choice vote. In the June primary, Democrats and Gross (who ran for Senate with Democrats’ support in 2020) combined for 30% to Republicans’ 58%, and post-Dobbs, Democrats’ vote share is likely to be higher. As long as Peltola takes at least 33% of first-choice votes, she’s mathematically guaranteed to advance to a final round against either Palin or Begich.”

In other words, Peltola only needs 33% of the first-choice votes to be the one to beat.

Cook goes on to say that Palin, one of the candidates for Congress for Alaska’s open seat, faces headwinds because she is so polarizing. Alaskans could get Peltola if they don’t rank Begich first.

“Peltola’s exceedingly narrow path in the instant runoff depends on Palin edging out Begich and plenty of Begich voters defecting to Peltola or leaving their second choice blank. After all, this is a state Trump carried by 10 points in 2020. But this is the first time in Alaska history voters have been asked to rank their choices, adding to the race’s unpredictability. It does help Republicans that the special coincides with regularly scheduled local primaries,” the report says.

“Bottom line: Alaska’s new election format handicaps the polarizing Palin, who has a high floor of support but a low ceiling. Begich might be the ever-so-slight frontrunner, but the vagaries of ranked-choice mean an upset can’t be ruled out.”

NRCC voting ad on YouTube: The National Republican Congressional Committee has put out an ad on social media encouraging people to rank either Nick Begich or Sarah Palin and to not rank Mary Peltola on the ranked choice ballot. It’s the same message Republican voters have been getting in the mail from the Alaska Republican Party lately: