Murkowski backs Kreiss-Tomkins as cross-party endorsements surge in midterms

Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski endorsed Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins in Alaska on Tuesday. The move adds to a growing list of cross-party endorsements in the final weeks of the midterm campaign season.

In Kansas, former Republican governors Bill Graves and Mike Hayden announced their support for Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Adam Hamilton in September and October, respectively. In Texas, the campaign for Democratic U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico stated that more than two dozen former GOP officials have joined its ranks.

Kel Seliger, a former GOP state senator, endorsed Talarico this week. He chose the Democratic candidate over his party's nominee, Attorney General Ken Paxton. Seliger said he has served with both men and believes Talarico will be honest and frank. He noted that Talarico is not a wild-eyed socialist, even if his policy views differ from his own. Seliger argued that Talarico will act in Texas's best interest rather than serving the interests of Elon Musk.

Republican Party officials claim they are seeing similar crossover voting patterns for their own candidates. Natalie Baldassarre, the national press secretary for the Republican National Committee, pointed to races in Michigan and Texas. She cited the campaign coalition Democrats for Mike Rogers as evidence of this trend. Baldassarre identified Mike Rogers against Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan and Ken Paxton against James Talarico in Texas as examples.

Joshua Blank, Research Director for the Texas Politics Project, cautioned that cross-party voting usually has a limited impact on election results. He stated that a large group of partisans rarely switches sides. Instead, these idiosyncratic voting behaviors occur among a small share of the electorate. Blank said the effect could matter if the races are close.

Recent polling indicates that several midterm races have tightened. Some contests are now statistically tied. Candidates in these states are actively promoting their bipartisan appeal to undecided voters in the days before the election.