Murkowski Won’t Endorse Primary Candidates

Brianna Gibbs/KMXT

U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski was in Kodiak last week for a groundbreaking ceremony on the Coast Guard Base. After the ceremony she took time to talk with KMXT.
While Murkowski isn’t up for re-election this year her senate counterpart, Democrat Mark Begich, is. The two have worked together in the senate for almost six years, something Begich has mentioned several times during his campaign. In fact, Begich has talked about their camaraderie and voting similarity so much that recently Murkowski asked him to focus on his own record and leave hers out of it.
“I have always taken a very bipartisan approach to legislating – I believe that that’s the right thing to do. I believe Alaskans want their entire delegation to be working together on Alaska-related issues and I try to do that. I also make sure though that I run on my own record. I’m proud of what our delegation does as a team, but I recognize that as one member of the team, I have to run on my record. And I have just suggested, most recently very directly, that Senator Begich does need to run on his record, as I run on mine.”

Murkowski said she would not endorse any of the candidates running for U.S. Senate, which includes Begich, and Republicans Mead Treadwell, Joe Miller and Dan Sullivan, until after the primary.
Murkowski said she also wouldn’t endorse any of the gubernatorial candidates until after the primary election, as well, even though the three major candidates, Democrat Byron Mallot, Governor Sean Parnell, and Independent candidate Bill Walker face no serious competition.
Mallot actually worked on Murkowski’s last campaign after she lost the primary election to challenger Joe Miller. With Mallot as her campaign co-chair, Murkowski ultimately won as a successful write-in candidate.
“I have great respect for Byron Mallot who was very helpful to me in my write-in campaign and think very, very highly of him. Of course our primary is just about five days from now, I think Alaskans are looking at that and saying that’s a good thing. They want to be on the other side of this primary, I do as well. So I will not be endorsing anybody certainly until after the primary here. But again like all Alaskans I think we’re ready to move on to what the stage will be in the general election.”
That was U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski speaking here in Kodiak last week about tomorrow’s primary election.