It's true - many of us here in the Great Land of Alaska will never get over being embarrassed by the uncanny political survival of Lisa Murkowski (R). "Princess" Lisa was handed a seat in the United States Senate like a feudal title from her father, Frank Murkowski, who stepped down from that Senate seat after he was elected governor. Since then, Senator Murkowski has cobbled together a coalition of squishy Republicans and Anchorage and Juneau Democrats to keep her in office - and our open-primary, ranked-choice voting system was pushed on the state by interests from Outside that poured millions into advertising, in no small part to keep Lisa Murkowski in office.

It says a lot about Princess Lisa that the legacy media regularly runs cover for her. In the latest, a piece in The Hill lauded her as a "changemaker" and claimed she overcame a metric buttload (that's 1.14 Imperial buttloads) of Outside cash in her advocacy for ranked-choice voting (RCV.)

She is also the highest-profile proponent of ranked-choice voting in the Senate, something she defended in Alaska this fall when dark-money groups poured more than $12 million dollars into a campaign to get rid of it.

Well, she is a proponent of RCV, because she would likely be unemployed today without it. But the problem with The Hill's claim here is that it's 180 degrees off. Must Read Alaska's Suzanne Downing has the details.

Here’s the most egregious part of the story:

“She is also the highest-profile proponent of ranked-choice voting in the Senate, something she defended in Alaska this fall when dark-money groups poured more than $12 million dollars into a campaign to get rid of it,” The Hill falsely reported. 

In fact, the group trying to get rid of ranked-choice voting raised only about $100,000, almost all of it from inside the state in small-dollar amounts.

It was $15 million in Outside dark money that poured into Alaska to preserve ranked-choice voting, which is the voting system, along with jungle primaries, that was designed by Murkowski supporters to keep Murkowski in office. She no longer has to face a Republican primary, but she can still claim to be a Republican when she gets to the Senate. The group used some of that money to produce ad in which Murkowski lauded ranked-choice voting.

We should note that the repeal of RCV this year failed by less than a thousand votes, and the pro-repeal side has already started the process to put it on the ballot again in 2026.

See Related: Alaska and Ranked-Choice Voting: It Ain't Over Yet

Murkowski Remarks at 'No Labels' Event About Trump Nominees Have Everyone Talking

Republicans in general should look askance at any politician who receives this kind of tongue-bath from the legacy media. But, whatever else Princess Lisa Murkowski is, she is also a survivor. The key to unlocking her grip on that Senate seat is in the repeal of RCV, but more than that, this is going to take some serious cohesion among Alaska Republicans. We have shown that this can be done; only this year, in the election just passed, the Alaska GOP coalesced behind one candidate, Nick Begich III, who took on Democrat Mary Peltola and sent her home to Bethel. RCV or no RCV, we can remove Lisa Murkowski with a united party, a great candidate, and a solid campaign.

Then, with a united Alaska GOP and a bit of luck, Alaska's embarrassing senator will be removed from that feudal seat for keeps.