ANCHORAGE — U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski had a bit of fun after winning her party primary Tuesday — hugging smiling supporters, dancing to classic rock tunes — but she cautioned that plenty of work remains if she is to hold onto her seat.
Murkowski easily defeated a field of little-known challengers to advance to the November general election to face former state lawmaker Ray Metcalfe, who won the Democratic primary over University of Alaska Anchorage professor and newspaper publisher Edgar Blatchford.
Metcalfe enters the last three months of the race at odds with the state Democratic Party, particularly its leadership. “I do intend to use the bully pulpit to put democracy back in the Democratic party. It’s not a very democratic Democratic party these days,” he said.
Still smarting from a 2010 primary loss to tea party upstart Joe Miller, Murkowski took nothing for granted this go-round, building a huge fundraising edge over her newer entrant opponents, traveling the state and peppering the airwaves with ads. Murkowski held onto her seat in 2010 by mounting a general election write-in campaign supported by Alaskans across the political spectrum.
A number of independents vying to make the general election ballot are expected to be waiting in the wings, the most prominent among them being Margaret Stock, a MacArthur Foundation “genius grant” winner for her work on immigration issues. Independents don’t have to go through the primary process.
Murkowski, a moderate Republican, has cast herself as a pragmatist willing to work across party lines to get things done. She is chair of the Senate energy committee, a post with significance for Alaska. She touts her willingness to take a serious, measured approach to issues.
At a campaign party Tuesday evening at a downtown Anchorage restaurant, Murkowski, surrounded by family and supporters, thanked Alaskans for coming together and backing her.
“You are what makes the difference. Thank you, God bless you. And, oh by the way, can I just say that now the work begins,” she said.
Anchorage voter Phil Cannon chose to send Murkowski back to Washington. Cannon, who is registered as an independent, said Murkowski has done good things for Alaska Natives, which is important to him because there are Alaska Natives in his family.
Another Anchorage resident, Republican Ken Owens, voted for Libertarian Cean Stevens. Owens, 70, said he can’t go along with Murkowski, who he believes is too closely aligned with President Barack Obama and Democrats and is a “Republican in name only.”
Voting at Kincaid Elementary School in southwest Anchorage, Boyd Smallwood said Murkowski stands up for Alaskans. Murkowski’s indecision on how she’ll vote in the presidential race wasn’t a consideration for him. Murkowski has said she hasn’t endorsed Republican nominee Donald Trump and won’t support Democrat Hillary Clinton, but is undecided as to how she’ll vote.
“It didn’t bother me one bit,” Smallwood said. “She’s going to do it anyway. If she doesn’t, she’ll probably lose next time around.”
Metcalfe said he had an advantage in name recognition over Blatchford, whom he called a “fine guy.” Metcalfe, a former legislator who has butted heads with party leaders, is hoping to shake up a state Democratic Party he believes has lost its way.
Frank Box, also voting at Kincaid Elementary, said Alaskans owe Metcalfe a debt of gratitude for being a muckraker. “He’s a local guy who’s really done his best to expose corruption, and we need more of that exposed, not just in this state, but I think that’s a problem nationwide,” Box said.
Bertha Kuzakin moved to Anchorage 10 years ago after living in King Cove for 32 years. An independent, she backs Metcalfe for Senate.
“Murkowski done enough for us, but there’s still a lot of loose ends,” she said. “Metcalfe looked like he can pick up the slack that she did not take care of.”
Earlier this year, Democrats proposed allowing independents to run in their party primary, an idea that Stock flirted with partly as a way to avoid the time and expense of gathering signatures to qualify for the ballot. She even addressed Democrats at one of their presidential caucus sites in March.
A judge dismissed a party lawsuit seeking to let independents into the primary as premature since the proposal wouldn’t be final until at least May. Given the proximity to the candidate filing deadline, the party didn’t press the issue further.
