Trump-Backed Challenger to Murkowski Raised $750,000 in 94 Days

(Bloomberg) -- A Trump-backed challenger to Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska announced she has raised more than $750,000 in the first 94 days of her candidacy.

Kelly Tshibaka, who has endorsements from former President Donald Trump and the Alaska Republican Party, raised half of the money from state residents and she said 94% of her contributions were from small-dollar donors giving less than $200. She announced details of her second-quarter campaign finance report that is due to the Federal Election Commission on Thursday.

Murkowski is the only Republican senator up for election in 2022 who voted to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial for stirring up supporters who then broke into the U.S. Capitol over his false claims that widespread fraud had cost him the 2020 presidential election.

Trump has vowed to defeat Murkowski and the 10 Republican House members who voted to impeach him. Trump also said he would campaign for Tshibaka, a former Alaska Department of Administration commissioner.

Murkowski has faced challenges from within her party before. In 2010, she lost the Republican primary to Joe Miller, a former U.S. magistrate judge backed by former Governor Sarah Palin and Tea Party groups. But Murkowski won as a write-in candidate, winning in a three-way race with Miller and Democrat Scott McAdams.

Murkowski has not yet filed her FEC report. But she raised $380,687 through the end of March when her campaign had $1.4 million cash on hand.

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