Alaska Senate: State of Confusion

In 2010, GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski won re-election to a second full term as a write-in candidate after losing the primary to Tea Party candidate Joe Miller. She took 39 percent to 35 percent for Miller and 23 percent for Democrat Scott McAdams. As she gears up to run for another term, Murkowski will again face a credible primary opponent. Former Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan filed his candidacy 10 minutes before the deadline. Sullivan served in the Anchorage Assembly from 1999 until 2008 when he was elected Mayor. He was termed out in 2014. That year, then-Gov. Sean Parnell tapped Sullivan as his running mate. Parnell was favored to win a second term, but ended up losing to independent Bill Walker, 46 percent to 48 percent, after the Democratic nominee dropped out of the race. Murkowski, who had nearly $3.4 million in the bank as of March 31, has taken very little for granted since 2010 and certainly starts the primary race as the favorite. Sullivan told the Alaska Dispatch after he filed that "he would focus on being 'the