Alaska Senate race heads for a ranked runoff

Alaska’s Senate race heads into the ranked-choice runoff process as no candidate on the ballot, including the two top GOP voters, Senator Lisa Murkowski and GOP challenger Kelly Tshibaka, n will reach 50%, according to NBC News.

However, the eventual winner of the contest shakes up, the seat will remain in the hands of the GOP. The ranked voting system is a method that allows voters in the state to rank candidates in order of preference.

In preferential choice elections, voters identify a first choice on their ballot and then rank the other candidates in order of preference. If no candidate receives a majority of first-choice votes on the first count, the election proceeds to an instant second round. The candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and the ballots cast for that candidate are recast for the voter’s second choice. The process repeats itself until one candidate reaches a majority.

In 2020, voters in Alaska approved a move to nonpartisan primaries that send the top four voters to the ranked-choice general election.

Along with Murkowski and Tshibaka, Democrat Patricia Chesbro and Republican Buzz Kelley advanced to the August primary – although Kelley dropped out of the race in September and endorsed Tshibaka. However, he still appeared on the ballot and collected the vote.

Proponents of ranked choice said the setup benefits moderate candidates who don’t play at the fringe of either party and instead work to appeal to the broadest group of people – which some say political observers, would end up benefiting Murkowski because she exerts a wider appeal on Democrats and independents, who could then choose her as a second choice.

Murkowski, who was seeking his fourth full term, angered Trump when she voted to convict him in his second impeachment trial, saying he instigated the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. He began calling Murkowski the “Alaskan disaster” and later endorsed Tshibaka for challenging her.

In his June 2021 endorsement — 14 months before the August primary — Trump promoted Tshibaka as “the candidate who can beat Murkowski” and “a fighter who stands up for Alaskan values ​​and America first.”

Tshibaka, who questioned the results of the 2020 presidential election, led Alaska’s Department of Administration from early 2019 until last year.

The former president won Alaska by 10 percentage points in the 2020 presidential election.

Tshibaka made waves as she vowed not to back another Trump foil, Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., for another term as GOP leader in the Senate if elected.

Murkowski, who has served in the Senate since 2003, has proven to be a moderate willing to work with Democrats. She was one of only three Republicans to vote to confirm Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson in April. She also stood up to her party in other big votes, voting with Democrats on major issues such as their efforts to block GOP attempts to repeal Obamacare.

In a recent campaign ad summarizing his closing plea, Murkowski promised to “work with anyone, from either side, to advance Alaska’s priorities.”

CORRECTION (November 9, 2022, 8:48 p.m. ET): A previous version of this article was incorrect when voters in Alaska approved the move to nonpartisan primaries and ranked-choice general elections. It was in 2020, not last year.