Alaska's Republican Party voted Monday night to censure Senate Minority LeaderMitch McConnell for backing a series of attack ads against Kelly Tshibaka.
McConnell was censured by the Alaskan Republican Party.
The state's Republican party slammed McConnell in a Facebook post Monday night, saying his financial support for Murkowski through the Senate Leadership Fund is in "direct contradiction" of the party's endorsement of Tshibaka in July.
The Senate Leadership Fund is being urged to stop running attack ads against Tshibaka by Alaskan party officials.
Most of the ads suggest Tshibaka may have committed fraud and wasted taxpayer money as a member of the Alaska Department of Administration.
In a rare move on Monday, Murkowski endorsed Mary Peltola, the Democratic candidate for the state's sole House seat.
The Alaska GOP vote is the latest example of a rift between Republican leaders like McConnell and former President Donald Trump. McConnell admitted over the summer that the Republicans might not take control of the Senate. After the January 6 insurrection, the minority leader harshly criticized Trump, and opposed the Republican National Committee's decision to censure two congressmen who voted to impeach Trump. Since leaving office, Trump has accused McConnell of being weak and called him an "old crow" Republican.
The Alaska Republican Party censured Murkowski after she voted to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial. Her vote was against the best interests of the state of Alaska, according to the party. The seven Republican senators who voted to convict Trump on charges of inciting violence are all Democrats. Even though both candidates are running as Republicans, they can both appear on the general election ballot. SarahPalin launched her campaign for the House on an anti-establishment platform attacking the "radical left" for illegal immigration and rising inflation. A special election was held in August to fill the rest of Don Young's seat after he died.
Other Trump-backed Republicans have made gains. In Ohio, Republican J.D. Vance has a slight lead over Democrat Tim Ryan in the polls, while Republican Mehmet Oz has cut Democrat John Fetterman's lead in Pennsylvania.
Under Alaska's ranked-choice system, voters will rank the four Senate candidates in order of preference, and if no one wins an absolute majority, election officials will conduct a second round of voting. According to recent Alaska Survey Research polls, Murkowski and Tshibaka are the clear favorites in the upcoming Senate race, with 39% of likely voters supporting Tshibaka in the first round. Murkowski leads Thisbaka by a wide margin in a head-to-head contest.
There is a special Alaska House race on the ballot in November.
The Alaska House race has a Trump-backed candidate in it.
Alaskan Republicans voted to censure McConnell.
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