Alaska GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola endorse each other's re-election bids

Mary Peltola
(Image credit: Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) was asked on Friday whether she will vote for Rep. Mary Peltola (D-Alaska) in the November election, putting her first on the state's new ranked-choice ballot, and Murkowski hesitated then said yes, mumbling, "I'm going to get in so much trouble," The Washington Post reports. A "reporter from a national newspaper" asked Murkowski why a Republican senator would praise a Democratic congresswoman, the Anchorage Daily News reports, and Murkowski smiled and said, "You can tell she's a D.C. reporter."

"In Alaska, I think it's still different. Mary is a friend," Murkowski said. "We have been friends for 25 years, and the fact that we're Republican and Democrat has never interfered with that friendship." Peltola, who won a special election to finish the term of late Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) and is running for a full term, reciprocated Murkowski's de facto endorsement on Monday: "I'm voting for her, so we're even-steven."

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Murkowski and Peltola are both "running as abortion rights moderates who are independent-minded consensus-builders focused on Alaska's needs," and polls show they are much more popular than their rivals — Young's family has endorsed Peltola and even Palin says she loves her, the Post reports.

Peltola and Murkowski also both have the enthusiastic backing of Alaska Natives, including unanimous endorsements from the Alaska Federation of Natives, the largest organization representing Alaska tribes, and other Alaska Native organizations.

Alaska Natives make up bout 15 percent of the state's population and half its rural residents, and they usually vote at lower rates than city-dwelling Alaskans. "But Mary Peltola is a total game changer, and that's good for Murkowski," Ivan Moore, a pollster with Alaska Survey Research, tells the Post.

About 58 percent of Alaska's 600,000 voters are independents, too. Republicans blame Peltola's surprise victory on the state's new ranked-choice voting system, and there's some truth in that, Politico reports. But her win — or more specifically, Palin's loss — has also "revealed something alarming for Republicans about the limitations of a MAGA personality's appeal in the post-Donald Trump presidential era — not just in Alaska, but in the Lower 48, as well."

Explore More
Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.