The Alaska Republican Party recently cancelled its 2020 presidential primary in a confident nod to President Donald Trump’s bid to seek reelection for a second term. Perhaps, just maybe, this was premature. The Alaska GOP should reverse its decision to cancel the 2020 presidential primary immediately.
The Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, has launched an official impeachment inquiry into President Trump after he pressured the Ukrainian government to investigate one of his potential political rivals in the forthcoming 2020 election. This sounds eerily familiar because we have been down this road before. You may recall that candidate Trump invited the Russians to hack the Democratic National Committee and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s emails during the 2016 election campaign, among other questionable acts of foreign interference in our elections.
In these trying times, it would be right and proper for Republican voters in Alaska to have a choice regarding who they believe should hold the Republican nomination for president in an election, as they did in 2016 when Alaska Republicans overwhelmingly supported Texas Sen. Ted Cruz for the nomination. Alaska Republicans should not be forced to forgo a choice and bend the knee to a presumptive nominee who seeks reelection amid an impeachment inquiry for betraying his oath to the U.S. Constitution and the American people. Alaska Republicans must be able to choose an alternative.
Alaskans must stand up for the Constitution.
— Kieran Smith
Bainbridge Island, Washington
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