Joe Miller may not be ready to give up on the Alaska Senate race, but the Republican Party of Alaska sure is.
In a statement yesterday, AK GOP Chairman Randy Ruedrich said: “This was a free and fair election. It is now time to look forward. We call on Joe Miller to respect the will of the voters and end his campaign in a dignified manner. We have every expectation that Joe will do the right thing.”
According to the Anchorage Daily News, Ruedrich said: “At this point we are comfortable calling this race. We congratulate Lisa on her victory.”
“Alaskans need to begin coming to terms with all that has happened,” he added.
Miller has said that he might request a hand recount of all of the ballots cast in the election, which he reiterated in a press release last night (after the AP had already called the race for Murkowski). “After all the absentee ballots are in and we’ve further reviewed the procedures and the results, we may ask for a recount,” Miller said. “Less than 1% of the vote now separates my and Lisa Murkowski’s total. If there is a recount and a consistent standard is applied to all the ballots, who knows what the difference would be. We need to uphold the integrity of the vote and we need a consistent standard.”
The tea party-backed Miller scored a surprise victory over Murkowski in the Republican primary — only to fall short to her historic write-in bid in the general election.
Jillian Rayfield
Jillian Rayfield is a Reporter/Blogger for TPM, and started as a News Intern in May 2009. She graduated from Cornell University in May 2008 with a degree in Film, and worked as a Research Assistant for a market research firm in London in between.
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