Republican Senate candidates Don Bolduc of New Hampshire and Kelly Tshibaka of Alaska went after establishment politicians on both sides of the aisle Sunday.
Appearing on Fox News’s “Sunday Morning Futures” with host Maria Bartiromo, Bolduc and Tshibaka were asked about snubs from the Senate Leadership Fund, a political action committee aligned with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).
Tshibaka is the Trump-endorsed candidate for Senate campaigning against Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who has held the seat since 2002, and Democrat Patricia Chesbro.
“In our race it’s the power players of D.C. versus the people of Alaska,” Tshibaka told Bartiromo, adding, “I think you’re hearing that from the General [Bolduc] too. This might be the race across all of America. [Incumbent GOP Sen. Lisa] Murkowski is often the tie-breaking vote that just helps the establishment.”
Alaska’s new ranked-choice voting allows for multiple candidates from the same party in the general election.
In New Hampshire, Bolduc, a retired Army brigadier general, is running against incumbent Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan.
“I want to get your take on the money part of this, because we know that Mitch McConnell is holding the purse strings deciding which candidate he wants to back … has this hurt your campaign,” Bartiromo asked Bolduc.
“Those decisions are made outside of my purview and outside of my influence, and I would say, no it has not, because what happened is, this is a grassroots campaign and we have had record-breaking days in terms of fundraising,” Bolduc replied. “People want change, and it’s indicative of the fact that the establishment is not what people want. Whether it’s Republican or Democrat, does not matter.”
Last week, CBS news reported that the Senate Leadership Fund pulled $5.6 million in television advertisements allocated to Bolduc in the final stretch of the campaign. Prior to that, the PAC spent a considerable amount on the race. The National Republican Senatorial Committee announced a $1 million ad buy financed with the campaign, a reversal of a previous decision to cancel spending in the Granite State, according to Axios.
Tshibaka doesn’t have the support of the Senate Leadership Fund, which has spent more than $5 million in attack ads supporting Murkowski’s effort to win her fourth full term in the Senate. According to FiveThirtyEight, Murkowski has voted in line with President Biden 67.3% of the time. Late last week, Tshibaka said that 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.”
Both Republican candidates are performing well in the polls. RealClearPolitics shows Bolduc’s race as a toss-up, and a recent survey from InsiderAdvantage and American Greatness has Bolduc just one point behind Hassan. According to a recent Alaska Survey Research poll, 41% of voters back Murkowski as their first choice, while Tshibaka has the support of 39% and Chesbro has 16%. If no candidate gets over 50% in the first round, the candidate with the least amount of votes will be eliminated. The poll finds Tshibaka trailing Murkowski by 11 points in the final round.
