Murkowski wins re-election in Alaska, fending off Trump-backed challenge after a ranked-choice runoff

Sen. Lisa Murkowski has won re-election in Alaska, dealing erstwhile President Donald Trump different nonaccomplishment successful what has mostly been a miserable midterm rhythm for his hand-picked candidates successful competitory Senate races.

Murkowski, 1 of lone 7 Republicans who voted to convict Trump astatine his 2nd impeachment trial, survived a situation from Trump-endorsed Kelly Tshibaka, a erstwhile Alaska Department of Administration commissioner, successful the state's archetypal Senate predetermination to beryllium decided by ranked-choice voting.

Rather than limiting voters to 1 choice, the format allows for candidates to beryllium ranked successful bid of preference. Neither Murkowski nor Tshibaka, the apical two-vote getters successful the first round of the Nov. 8 wide election, had a bulk aft archetypal choices were tabulated, triggering runoff rounds Wednesday successful which ballots listing eliminated candidates were reallocated to the voter's adjacent choices. 

Murkowski, Tshibaka, Democrat Patricia Chesbro and Republican Buzz Kelley each precocious from a nonpartisan August primary. Kelley aboriginal dropped retired and endorsed Tshibaka, but helium remained connected the ballot. Wednesday's runoff began with the second-choice votes from those who preferred the last-place Kelley being dispersed among the remaining 3 candidates. Chesbro was eliminated next, and the second-choice votes from her ballots helped enactment Murkowski implicit the threshold.

From the start, the contention mostly centered connected the 2 starring Republicans and their relationships with Trump.

Tshibaka, for example, had made waves by vowing not to enactment different Trump foil, Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., for different word arsenic the Senate's GOP person if she was elected.

Murkowski became a people for the close aft emerging arsenic a uncommon Republican officeholder consenting to knock Trump and yet convict him for what she believed was his incitement of the deadly insurrection astatine the U.S. Capitol connected Jan. 6, 2021. The Alaska Republican Party censured her and Trump began calling her the "disaster from Alaska," yet backing Tshibaka to situation her.

Murkowski besides is known for her mean illustration successful the Senate and for her willingness to enactment with Democrats. She was 1 of lone 3 Republicans who voted to corroborate Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson successful April. She has bucked her enactment successful different large votes during Trump's administration, arsenic well, voting with Democrats and a fistful of different Republicans to artifact the GOP's attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act. In a recent campaign ad summing up her closing argument, Murkowski vowed to "work with anyone, from either party, to beforehand Alaska's priorities."

Advocates of ranked-choice voting, a strategy that received nationalist attraction for its usage successful past year's New York City mayoral election, believe the setup benefits mean candidates who don't play to either party's fringe and enactment hardest to entreaty to the broadest radical of people.