Murkowski advances in Alaska Senate race

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) was projected to advance from the state’s Republican Senate primary, setting her up to compete in November’s midterm general election.

The Associated Press made the call at 1:41 p.m. ET.

The incumbent senator was widely expected to advance from the all-party primary, in which the top four vote-getters advanced to the general election.

The primary was seen as a test for former President Trump’s endorsement. Trump backed Kelly Tshibaka in the race following Murkowski’s vote to convict him in his second impeachment trial.

Tshibaka was also projected to advance early Wednesday morning.

However, Murkowski is expected to perform better in the general election, where she will be able to glean more support from voters outside of the GOP, including Democrats and independents.

November’s general election will be a ranked-choice election, where a candidate needs more than 50 percent of the vote to be declared the winner outright.

If the front-runner doesn’t have that percentage of the vote, the candidate with the fewest votes that round drops off the ballot, and those who ranked that candidate first will have their votes go to their second choice. The process continues until a candidate has more than 50 percent of the vote.