Another wave of Alaska Republican Party committees with voting rights on the State Central Committee have passed resolutions sharply criticizing Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell for meddling in Alaska elections against the wishes of the Alaska Republican Party. They are demanding action.
The number of committees that have passed resolutions of censure against Sen. McConnell grew with District 7, District 26, and District 29 joining Districts 6, 9, 13, 23, and 30, which had also passed resolutions censuring McConnell and the Senate Leadership Fund during the past week.
That makes eight of the 34 organized Republican district committees in the state, or over 23 percent, with several more committees in the process of voting on similar resolutions on Friday, Must Read Alaska has learned.
McConnell’s Senate Leadership Fund has been bombarding the airwaves of Alaska with attacks on Tshibaka, in support of his favored candidate, Sen. Lisa Murkowski.
But wait, there’s more.
Also passing a resolution of censure against McConnell was the Valley Republican Women of Alaska, joining Republican Women of the Kenai, Anchorage Republican Women’s Club, and the Mat-Su Republican Women’s Club — all calling out McConnell for running $7 million of negative campaign ads against the party’s endorsed candidate Kelly Tshibaka.
All of these women’s clubs have voting membership on the State Central Committee. Only two women’s clubs have not announced action.
Districts have gone further and requested that State Central Committee take a vote on a censure from the party itself. With this much of a groundswell, one could speculate the State Central Committee will indeed take action.
The statement from Chairwoman Ann Brown on the matter has not been enough for some party officers. She said: “US Senate candidate Kelly Tshibaka announced her candidacy in March 2021. The Alaska Republican Party endorsed her and is proud to support her. She has been campaigning all over the state, meeting with and listening to voters. We know Kelly’s message of ‘It’s time for a change’ is resonating because recently we are seeing quite a few attack ads against her. Don’t believe those ads. To learn the truth about Kelly go to www.kellyforak.com.”
Mary Ann Pruitt, consultant to the Tshibaka campaign, said ““Alaskans don’t like to be bullied by powerful people from the Lower 48, but that’s exactly what Mitch McConnell is trying to do when he attacks Kelly Tshibaka, the endorsed candidate of the Alaska Republican Party. I’m proud of the party leaders who are bold enough to stand up and say they’re not going to be marginalized in their own state by the highest elected Republican official in the country. I’d also note that Lisa Murkowski has always loudly criticized outside dark money, so it’s especially sad to see her desperately trying to cling to power this way.”
