FAIRBANKS - Republican U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski has received significant support since narrowly losing to Joe Miller in the August GOP primary, a spokesman said Sunday. Murkowski has yet to endorse her Republican rival, leading to widespread speculation that she is evaluating options for a possible re-entry into the race. She has two options if she wants to re-enter: to be invited to run under the banner of the Alaska Libertarian Party or to mount a write-in campaign.
“She has received a huge outpouring of support from Alaskans, both individuals and groups,” Murkowski spokesman Steve Wackowski wrote Sunday in an e-mail to the Daily News-Miner. He cited support from Alaska Native groups and the fishing and energy industries.
Murkowski herself has said little publicly since conceding the race on Tuesday when absentee and other ballots failed to erase the lead that Miller built on primary election day, Aug. 24. She was busy this weekend with family.
“Like many Alaskans, she is in the Interior, hunting with family and will be out of radio contact for the next few days,” Wackowski wrote.
Wackowski has not responded to a request for a follow-up telephone interview.
Miller said Sunday he expects Murkowski will stick to her promise, made at a mid-August chamber of commerce forum on the Kenai Peninsula, to follow the will of Republican primary voters and bow out following the loss.
"We both said that. We expect she'd keep her word, we think she will," Miller told the News-Miner by phone.
"It was the honorable thing to concede at that point," he said of Murkowski's decision Tuesday during a count of absentee and questioned ballots. "And we want to honor that."
Only the Libertarian Party would be available to Murkowski since election law only allows a candidate change if the party already has a candidate on the November ballot. The Libertarian Party is the only other party with a candidate running for U.S. Senate.
The deadline to make a switch is Sept. 15.
The state party’s leadership earlier voted to not take on Murkowski, but Alaska Libertarian Party Chairman Scott Kohlhaas told the Anchorage Daily News recently that discussions have occurred since then.
Meanwhile, the Miller campaign on Sunday announced the backing of Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan. “Joe will bring new energy and new ideas to Congress and that is what our country needs in these challenging times,” Sullivan said in a statement released by the Miller campaign.
The Miller campaign on Monday announced the endorsement of two state legislators: Rep. Mike Kelly of Fairbanks and Rep. Bob Lynn of Anchorage.
Read more: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner - Murkowski getting huge outpouring of support aide says
