Elections, Lisa Murkowski | featured news

The Alaska Supreme Court has upheld a lower court decision in the disputed U.S. Senate race, saying the state correctly counted write-in votes for Sen. Lisa Murkowski.

As Senator Lisa Murkowski flew home to Alaska on Wednesday, The Associated Press declared her the winner of her long-shot write-in bid for re-election. Neither the Murkowski campaign nor the campaign of her competitor, Joe Miller, a Tea Party favorite who was backed by former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, made an immediate comment.

'Tea party' opponent Joe Miller isn't conceding even though Lisa Murkowski's lead reaches 41% in the three-way race. The long process of scrutinizing write-in ballots lies ahead.U.S. Sen.

When Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska announces Friday night -- as expected -- that she is launching a write-in campaign to retain her seat, she'll be stepping into the middle of some very testy Republican infighting.