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enate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, who caused a stir this summer by questioning the quality of his party’s candidates, has created a new rift inside the GOP by spending millions to defeat Alaska GOP Senate nominee Kelly Tshibaka.
McConnell’s leadership PAC, the Senate Leadership Fund, has been running attack ads against Tshibaka in an effort to boost moderate incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski.
The Alaska Republican Party responded Monday by voting to censure McConnell for spreading “divisive and misleading statements” about Tshibaka, who was endorsed both by the state party and former President Donald Trump.
The censure resolution, which passed 49-8, also declared McConnell’s financial support for Murkowski to be “in direct contradiction” to the party’s rules.
“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 reads. “We request the Senate Leadership Fund immediately stop the attack ads against Kelly Tshibaka and discontinue the support of all other opposing candidates.”
The state party previously censured Murkowski last year for voting to convict Trump in his impeachment trial for his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Trump was acquitted.
