Amidst protests outside and the Kenai Visitor’s Center at full capacity for the event, Sen. Lisa Murkowski spoke to constituents at the Kenai and Soldotna Joint Chamber of Commerce luncheon. Meanwhile, a megaphone could be heard at the corner of the Kenai Spur Highway and Main Street repeatedly saying, ‘Kelly for Alaska’ in support of Kelly Tshibaka, who announced her intentions to run against Murkowski.
Among the subjects Murkowski talked about was the Biden Administration’s executive orders on ANWR, looking into cruise ships returning before summer ends, the Biden Administration’s infrastructure package and Alaska’s energy industry.
When asked if she’s seeking re-election, Murkowski said, “Well, as we say in Washington D.C. at the beginning of a new Congress, 1/3 of the Senate is up for re-election and at the beginning of the 117th Congress, I am up for re-election. I am doing everything on a daily basis to continue to serve Alaskans whether it is just getting up in the morning and doing the job that I’ve been elected to do serving folks. Also, going around and really the opportunity to touch base, reconnect again because COVID has really separated Alaskans. So much of the connect that I’ve had with Alaskans over the past year has been by Zoom. That’s not how I operate and I don’t think that’s how most Alaskans like to operate, but that’s how we’ve been forced to. I’ve been engaged, very engaged in that. In working to position myself so that when I make that decision and share that with Alaskans we’ll be ready to roll.”
Earlier in the day, Sen. Murkowski was in Anchorage meeting with Tom Steinbrunner, the Executive Director of the Alaska VA Healthcare System. There, Murkowski stated that he provided an update for the rollout of TriWest’s Community Care network. Yesterday, she met with Major General Peter Andrysiak, Commander of U.S. Army Alaska about efforts to address the spike in soldier suicides in recent months.