ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Senator Lisa Murkowski dropped out of the Republican Senate primary in Alaska yesterday, conceding to a Tea Party-backed insurgent in a stunning upset fuelled by conservative supporters.
Joe Miller, a Fairbanks attorney who was heavily backed by former Alaska governor and potential 2012 presidential contender Sarah Palin, had a thin lead over Senator Murkowski as the last ballots from the August 24th primary election were counted.
“Based on where we are right now, I don’t see a scenario where the primary will turn out in my favour,” the senator told supporters as she conceded defeat in Anchorage.
Senator Murkowski becomes the seventh member of Congress, and the third senator, ousted amid anti-incumbent fervour fanned largely by a weak economy and the conservative Tea Party movement.
In an election year marked by voter anger over lost jobs and spiralling deficits, Republicans hope to regain control of Congress in the November 2nd midterm elections, when 435 seats are up for grabs in the House, and 37 seats in the Senate.
Senator Murkowski joins three-term Republican senator Robert Bennett of Utah, who lost his renomination bid in May, and five-term Senator Arlen Specter, who lost the Democratic primary in Pennsylvania. Tea Party-supported candidates have won primary victories in Florida, Nevada, Colorado and Utah.
Mr Miller thanked the conservatives who backed him, including Ms Palin, former presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee and “the national Tea Party movement”. “Now is the time for all Alaskans to come together and reach out with our core message of taking power from the federal government and bringing it back home to the people,” Mr Miller said.
“On to November!” a triumphant Ms Palin said on Twitter.
Ms Palin’s endorsement of Mr Miller was credited with inspiring the California-based Tea Party Express to pour about $600,000 (€469,000) into his campaign, money that was used in a late-campaign advertising blitz.
Senator Murkowski has been considered a moderate on several issues, and a potential compromise vote on national climate law. Mr Miller is on record as denying that human-caused emissions are responsible for climate change.
Senator Murkowski is the scion of a prominent Alaska family. Her father, Frank Murkowski, served for 22 years in the Senate before being elected governor in 2002. One of his first actions as governor was to appoint his daughter, then a state legislator, to fill the Senate seat he had just vacated.
Ms Palin ousted Mr Murkowski from office when she defeated him in the 2006 Republican Party gubernatorial primary. – (Reuters)