Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski defends running as an independent in the re-elections

September 23rd, 2010 - 8:17 pm ICT by Aishwarya Bhatt  

Sep 23 (THAINDIAN NEWS) Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski has admitted she has defied political norms by announcing that she will run as an independent in the upcoming midterm elections.

Murkowski announced that she would go independent after she lost her party’s primary to “tea party” backed Joe Miller.

Her decision has angered her Senator colleagues who replaced her as the vice-chair of the Republican Conference on Wednesday. Republican Senate leaders threatened to strip her of her choice position as a ranking member on the Energy Committee. Even if Murkowski fails in her bid to become independent Senator, the Republicans risk losing the seat to the Democrats because of the risk of split voting among the Republican voters.

However Murkowski, who is the daughter of former Alaska Senator, Frank Murkowski says Alaskans should have a “choice” in the upcoming elections. She claims that Alaskans are asking her to stay in the race and that is what she wants to do.

Murkowski’s decision has a long implication for the Republicans. The Republicans are poised for majority seats in the Senate, if predictions about the upcoming midterm elections are true.

Opinion polls reveal anger towards the Obama administration and the Democrats as a whole and the Republicans are highly favored to win most of the seats in Senate in the upcoming midterm elections.

Related Stories

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Posted in Politics |

Subscribe