Trump-endorsed Senate candidate Kelly Tshibaka slammed pro-impeachment and 21-year incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) for skipping the ConocoPhillips candidates forum on oil and gas issues in Anchorage Tuesday.
“Lisa Murkowski has enabled Biden’s war on Alaska, yet she can’t be bothered to come speak to the very people she has endangered,” Tshibaka said in a statement. “She’s much more comfortable with her D.C. insider friends, who are very happy that she’s helped put radical environmentalists in charge.”
“Oil and gas jobs are the most crucial part of Alaska’s economy and there are thousands of Alaska families who are worried about what Biden is doing to their livelihoods,” she continued.
Murkowski was one of the deciding votes to confirm President Joe Biden’s Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, who has led the assault on Alaska’s energy producers with two dozen executive actions, endangering thousands of energy jobs in the process.
Nominee for Secretary of Interior, Congresswoman Deb Haaland, speaks after President-elect Joe Biden announced his climate and energy appointments at the Queen theater on December 19, 2020, in Wilmington, Delaware. (Joshua Roberts/Getty Images)
The Biden administration, under Haaland’s direction, has created at least two dozen executive actions aimed at Alaska, putting thousands of energy jobs at risk.
Tshibaka said she will take a different direction after winning the November 8 election. “And I will always stand up for the men and women who work in these vital industries, which is why I have been endorsed by the Oil and Gas Workers Association,” Tshibaka continued.
Murkowski voted to confirm not only Haaland, but also Attorney General Merrick Garland, who declined in 2021 to appeal a federal judge’s ruling against the massive Willow oil and gas project.
The large energy project would have created thousands of jobs and brought billions of dollars in investments to “The Last Frontier.” Perhaps unsurprisingly, Murkowski also voted for the federal judge who ruled to block the Willow plan.
According to FiveThirtyEight’s simulation of the race, Tshibaka is leading Murkowski. The model supports polling showing Tshibaka has a slight edge over the incumbent. The projection is notable because Murkowski has allied herself with the establishment uniparty in Washington, DC, where she has voted nine times with Democrats in the 2021-2022 cycle.
Murkowski has raised 85 percent of her money from out-of-state donors. Just 15 percent ($929,774) has come from in-state contributors, according to OpenSecrets. In contrast, Tshibaka leads the race on in-state fundraising.
One of Murkowski’s top supporters is Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), whose leadership fund has given $9 million to Murkowski instead of to swing state Republican candidates in Arizona, New Hampshire, Georgia, or Nevada.
Former President Donald Trump slammed the donation. “Old Broken Crow, Mitchell McConnell, is authorizing $9 Million Dollars to be spent in order to beat a great Republican, Kelly, instead of $9 Million Dollars that could be used for Blake Masters, and other Republicans,” Trump said in a press release. “Isn’t it ironic?”
Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.
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