By Jason Lange
(Reuters) -Voters in Wyoming and Alaska selected candidates for the U.S. Congress and other offices in primaries and a special election on Tuesday, in another test of former President Donald Trump’s influence in the Republican Party ahead of the Nov. 8 midterms.
Following are three key races:
WYOMING REPUBLICAN CONGRESSIONAL PRIMARY
Trump has targeted dozens of foes within the Republican Party, with special ire for the handful of Republican lawmakers who voted to impeach him last year for inciting the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. On Tuesday night, his highest-profile target, U.S. Representative Liz Cheney, lost her seat to Trump-endorsed lawyer Harriet Hageman in the Republican primary for Wyoming’s lone U.S. House seat. In addition to her impeachment vote, Cheney has also helped lead a congressional probe into the Capitol riot. In her concession speech, she said she would do “whatever it takes to ensure Donald Trump is never again anywhere near the Oval Office.”
ALASKA U.S. SENATE SEAT PRIMARY
Trump has also targeted U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who cast one of the few Republican votes to convict the former president in a Senate trial last year following his impeachment. Murkowski, however, appears to have a decent chance of beating her Trump-backed challenger, Kelly Tshibaka, a former state administration commissioner. Both Murkowski and Tshibaka will likely advance from Tuesday’s primary contest, which will send four candidates to the November general election regardless of their political parties. An early-July poll by Alaska Survey Research gave Murkowski a modest lead over Tshibaka and the other candidates expected to be on the ballot in November.
ALASKA U.S. HOUSE SEAT SPECIAL ELECTION AND PRIMARY
The power of Trump’s endorsements could take a ding in Alaska’s special election for the state’s sole U.S. House seat, which has been vacant since Representative Don Young’s death in March. Sarah Palin, a former Alaska governor and the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee, received Trump’s endorsement in April. But her path to victory narrowed after the Republican Party’s state leadership committee endorsed rival candidate and business executive Nick Begich.
The Alaska Survey Research poll showed Begich with a slight lead over Palin in a three-person field that also includes Democrat Mary Peltola. The poll asked respondents to rank candidates by preference, in line with Alaska’s new “ranked choice” voting rules. The rules could require multiple rounds of vote-counting, so a winner might not be known on election night.
Palin and Begich will also be on the ballot on Tuesday for the primary ahead of the November contest for the same U.S. House seat.
(Reporting by Jason Lange; additional reporting by Moira WarburtonEditing by Colleen Jenkins and Alistair Bell)
