Miller drops legal challenge, concedes Alaska senate race

JUNEAU, Alaska – Republican Joe Miller on Friday ended his legal fight over Alaska’s U.S. Senate seat, conceding the race to his bitter rival, incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski.

Miller’s decision came one day after the state certified Murkowski as the winner.

Miller had the option of appealing a federal judge’s ruling or formally contesting the election results. He believes he is right about the law but thinks it is “very unlikely” an appeals court would side with him. He said he had to accept “practical realities.”

Three courts ruled against Miller, who argued the state’s handling of the election and vote count for Murkowski, who ran as a write-in candidate, was not in line with the law.

Miller had not called Murkowski to congratulate her, said his spokesman, Randy DeSoto. To say that she’d won it fair and square, DeSoto said, “is not in his thinking.”

Friday’s announcement ends what started as a promising campaign for Miller, a Sarah Palin-backed tea party favorite who upset Murkowski in the GOP primary, in his first bid for statewide public office.

He was widely seen as the favorite for winning in the fall election. But then Murkowski re-emerged as a wild card, launching her longshot write-in campaign.

Results made official by the state Thursday showed Murkowski with a 10,252-vote lead over Miller, her closest opponent. Democrat Scott McAdams finished third.