Joe Miller of Alaska, who lost his 2010 Senate bid to a successful write-in campaign by Sen. Lisa Murkowski, is considering another go at it.
The tea party-backed Republican announced Sunday night that he had formed an exploratory committee in preparation for a possible run against Alaska’s Democratic Sen. Mark Begich.
“The choice before Alaskans in 2014 will be stark,” Miller wrote on his website, in an article announcing the formation of an exploratory committee. “Voters must choose between the easy lies of an insider politician or the hard truth of a reformer.”
Miller said that he was still trying to figure out whether he could get the necessary support from “grassroots conservatives” and raise enough funds to win the race.
Miller was critical of both Begich and Murkowski, the Republican whom he defeated in Alaska’s 2010 GOP Senate primary. Murkowski went on to beat both Miller and Democrat Scott McAdams as a write-in candidate in the general election.
“Though I was labeled an ‘extremist’ by the likes of Lisa Murkowski and Mark Begich for telling the truth, both of our sitting senators now routinely engage in such ‘extremist’ rhetoric with respect to federal overreach, government spending, and entitlement reform. Yet they are still unwilling to tackle the tough issues,” Miller wrote.
He said that if elected, he would align himself with conservative Sens. Rand Paul, Mike Lee, and Ted Cruz “to confront President Obama.”
Roll Call reported that Begich raised $948,000 in the first quarter this year. No candidate has yet officially announced a run against Begich, but Republican Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell has expressed interest in the seat.