Alaska Republicans are not happy with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and they let him know it in no uncertain terms on Tuesday.
The state party voted 49-8 to censure McConnell after a series of attack ads aired against Trump-endorsed Senate candidate Kelly Tshibaka. McConnell and many insider GOP establishment types are backing incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who voted to convict former President Trump following his second impeachment.
“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 says.
“We request the Senate Leadership Fund immediately stop the attack ads against Kelly Tshibaka and discontinue the support of all other opposing candidates.”
The Hill added:
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.
She has addressed the false attack.
“Let’s address the biggest lie first – her outrageous claim that I support banning the sale of birth control pills through the mail. I and members of my family are among the millions of American women who have taken birth control pills,” she said.
Hi, I’m Kelly. We’re going to defeat Lisa Murkowski in 2022. #AKsen pic.twitter.com/UTe4PIZlfQ
— Kelly Tshibaka – Text KELLY to 20903 (@KellyForAlaska) March 29, 2021
“I do not support restricting their sale through the mail or otherwise. Investing hundreds of thousands of dollars in an ad campaign will not change that fact. The deceptive ads rely on video taken out of context from one of my many town halls, when I was answering questions about abortion and other topics,” she noted further.
“Pills that induce abortions should not be confused with regular birth control pills that prevent pregnancies. The millions of dollars Mitch McConnell is spending on lies about me could be put to better use in other states where a Republican has a chance to beat a Democrat,” Tshibaka added on Monday.
“And the Alaska Republican Party has just told him to butt out of our state. Lisa Murkowski cares more about her standing in D.C. social circles than she does about the people in Alaska she’s supposed to represent,” Tshibaka added.
Just imagine what the Senate map would like like if Mitch McConnell wanted to win every possible seat, instead of playing favorites and settling petty scores pic.twitter.com/8MVPfXmNoq
— Buck Sexton (@BuckSexton) October 25, 2022