Donald Trump’s presidential campaign has chosen former state official Kelly Tshibaka as its Alaska chair.
Tshibaka sent a media announcement Monday, drawing attention to Alaska’s Republican Presidential Preference Poll on March 5.
The in-person poll is like a party caucus, but the selection is done by written ballot. It is run by the party and determines how Alaska’s delegates to the Republican national convention will pledge.
Tshibaka is a former Alaska commissioner of Administration. She ran for U.S. Senate in 2022, with Trump’s endorsement, as a conservative challenger. She narrowly lost to Sen. Lisa Murkowski in the first round. Murkowski’s lead grew to more than seven percentage points once voters’ ranked choices were tabulated.
Tshibaka has since founded an organization that advocates against ranked choice voting. She and her husband also host a podcast.
Liz Ruskin is the Washington, D.C., correspondent at Alaska Public Media. Reach her at lruskin@alaskapublic.org. Read more about Liz here.
