Murkowski Calls Victory ‘a Miracle’ and ‘the Right Thing’
Senator Lisa Murkowski returned to Alaska on Wednesday night and declared her re-election by write-in “a miracle” that had come true for the people of her state.
“Doesn’t it just feel, wow,” Ms. Murkowski, a Republican, told supporters after returning home to claim victory in the race against the Tea Party-backed Republican nominee, Joe Miller. “Still a little bit mind-boggling. It is truly, truly, truly remarkable.”
She added: “We will look back on this and say: ‘What a race this has been. What a summer this was, and now, where we are today.’ ”
Ms. Murkowski’s remarks culminated a two-week delay as election officials counted the write-in ballots from the Nov. 2 vote, a slow process. The Associated Press and The New York Times declared her the victor Wednesday, although Mr. Miller has not conceded and has raised the possibility of a recount request.
If her win is declared official, Ms. Murkowski will return to Washington, where there could be more than a bit of awkwardness with some of her Republican colleagues.
The party backed her in the Republican primary, but officially abandoned her when Mr. Miller — with the backing of the state’s former governor, Sarah Palin — defeated her.
That could come back to haunt the Republicans in the Senate as they search for the votes to pass legislation sent by Republican colleagues who will control the House. Ms. Murkowski retains her seniority in the Senate but gave up her leadership position in the Republican conference when she challenged Mr. Miller.
Still, one senior Republican adviser in the Senate said most members of the party had withheld public criticism of Ms. Murkowski during the campaign. He predicted that she would feel welcomed by her former colleagues when she returned to Washington.
“It won’t be awkward at all,” the adviser said. “Remember, she was running against the Republican nominee — that’s the only reason she had to step down from leadership. And the conference didn’t strip her of her position as ranking member of the Energy Committee. And outside of one senator, nobody said an unkind word, despite the fact that she was running against the Republican nominee.”
That one senator was Jim DeMint of South Carolina, who backed Mr. Miller and other Tea Party candidates against Republican incumbents in the midterm elections.
Mr. DeMint and Ms. Murkowski have engaged in a war of words. After the election, Ms. Murkowski blamed Mr. DeMint for the party’s inability to take control of the Senate from the Democrats.
“I think some of the Republicans in the Congress feel pretty strongly that he and his actions potentially cost us the majority by encouraging candidates that ended up not being electable,” Ms. Murkowski told Politico. “I think there’re some folks that feel that DeMint’s actions didn’t necessarily help the Republican majority.”
The Republican Senate leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, has not welcomed Ms. Murkowski back to the Senate yet. But an aide said that would most likely happen soon, now that it appeared that she had been victorious.
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