It’s ‘We the people,’ not ‘we the party’

On the heels of this virulent election cycle, it seems Alaskans — for the most part — voted for the candidate rather than his or her party affiliation.

In the race for Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s seat, it seems the incumbent who was upset by fellow Republican Joe Miller in the August primary will return to Washington, D.C. With 99 percent of precincts reporting, the write-in vote category is ahead in the race for the Senate at 41 percent. Miller garnered 34 percent of the vote and Democrat Scott McAdams 24 percent.

While Murkowski hasn’t officially been named the winner, it’s a safe bet that she’s the benefit of a super majority of those write-in votes. (Though we have been told at least one of those write-in votes is for Jay Hammond.)

If these early numbers translate into votes for Murkowski, it shows that while Alaska voters have traditionally taken a conservative leaning in their choices in state and national representation, they also vote for the person, not just the party.

This is a good thing.

Murkowski is a Republican, but there was a lot of kvetching leading up to Tuesday that “good” Republicans shouldn’t give her their vote because Miller won the GOP primary. Essentially, that argument says Republicans were obligated to support Miller because he won the primary. And here in the Valley, Miller did win the majority of votes.

But regardless of who is eventually sent to Wasington, D.C., to represent Alaska as its second U.S. Senator, representative democracy requires that that person serve all of the people in Alaska. Not just Republican people, or just tall people, or just Democrat people. Anyone elected by the people is elected to serve the people. All the people. Not their parties.

While party affiliation plays a valuable role in helping give citizens a broad view of what a public servant’s core values are, it should in no way indicate which people will receive the benefits of their service.

The Preamble to the U.S. Constitution begins, ‘We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union …” It doesn’t say, “We the representatives of political parties of the United States.”

Neither Murkowski nor Miller should be viewed as being a “good” or “bad” Republican. Running a write-in campaign is a legal and above-board way to run for election. So is winning your party’s primary.

We challenge all of Tuesday’s winners to remember that while they may play partisan politics at the state Capitol or in Washington, D.C., by definition, a representative democracy means “We the people” — and not the party — should always come first.