Alaska Republicans vote to censure McConnell

The Alaska Republican Party on Monday voted to censure Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) for what they called spreading “divisive and misleading statements” about their endorsed candidate in Alaska’s Senate race.

The state party added that McConnell’s financial support for incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) in the Senate race against fellow Republican Kelly Tshibaka was “in direct contradiction” to the party, according to a copy of the resolution posted Monday night on Facebook.

“Much of the financial support from the Senate Leadership Fund has been used for malicious political attack ads targeted at our endorsed candidate, Kelly Tshibaka, that are gross distortions of fact,” the resolution reads. “We request the Senate Leadership Fund immediately stop the attack ads against Kelly Tshibaka and discontinue the support of all other opposing candidates.”

The resolution passed by a 49-8 vote, according to local news reports.

The Alaska Republican Party also censured Murkowski last year after she voted to convict former President Trump in his impeachment trial for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Tshibaka is endorsed by Trump, who has become a vocal critic of McConnell and has pushed for the Senate leader to step down.

McConnell, who runs the Senate Leadership Fund, has spent millions on ads attacking Tshibaka to support Murkowski, a 20-year incumbent.

According to FactCheck.org, some of the ads aired in the race have been misleading, including one claiming Tshibaka wants to ban birth control by mail.

The Alaska Republican Party, which endorsed Tshibaka last year well ahead of the primary election, said in its resolution that it has also sent out statements warning voters not to believe the “attack ads.”

Alaska’s November general election is a ranked-choice process, where a candidate needs more than 50 percent of the vote to win.

Tshibaka and Murkowski are the two front-runners in the race.