Judge McKenna’s ruling essentially means nothing short of personally entering the U.S. Capitol building or literally saying “I want to overthrow the government” would disqualify the Wasilla Republican.
The Senate organizes around a whopping 17-member majority with all nine Democrats and eight of the 11 Republicans.
It’s a situation that leaves no clear answer for what organization might look like, potentially setting up yet another cycle where the House starts the session without a majority and unable to conduct any meaningful business.
The special election for the U.S. House taught us to expect a little bit of everything.
What had largely been a foregone conclusion among politicos going into election day—that Republicans would win control of the House after three cycles of bipartisan majorities—no longer looks so certain.
Now, Murkowski will head into Wednesday’s ranked-choice voting tabulation with a lead and the expectation that she’ll receive a large portion of the 20% of the vote that went to Democrat Pat Chesbro.