Trump's Senate candidate in Alaska lost to Lisa Murkowski, the latest in a string of failures for his endorsees

• GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski held onto her Senate seat in Alaska, despite opposition from Trump.
• Trump-backed rival Kelly Tshibaka conceded the election on Wednesday.

Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski held onto her seat in Alaska, in the latest failure by Trump-endorsed candidates to reshape the party in the former president's image.

Murkowski was projected as the winner in Alaska late on Wednesday, according to Insider's election partner Decision Desk HQ.

Unlike most Senate races, the contest in Alaska was mainly fought between two Republicans — Murkowski and the Trump-backed candidate Kelly Tshibaka, who lost.

None of the candidates in the four-person race received the necessary 50% of first-choice votes, but Murkowski took the lead after picking up many second-choice votes from the eliminated Democrat Pat Chesbro.

Tshibaka lamented the state's voting system in a concession note posted to Twitter late on Wednesday, calling it "an incumbent-protection program."

Trump has made no secret of his contempt for Murkowski, who was one of seven Republicans who voted for his conviction in the impeachment trial that followed the riot at the Capitol.

(Trump was acquitted in that vote, which was 57-43 in favor of conviction, less than the necessary two-thirds.)

During one rally, Trump called Murkowski "lousy" and "worse than a Democrat."

Trump endorsed Tshibaka in June, calling her "MAGA all the way" — something that was borne out as Tshibaka took on several Trump-linked advisors to helm her campaign, as Politico reported.

Trump's endorsements were a strong bet in the primaries, where the vast majority candidates he backed — many of whom were incumbents — won the party nomination, according to an analysis by The Washington Post.

But during the 2022 midterms several high-profile candidates that he backed lost their races.

In Alaska, he also backed Sarah Palin, who lost the state's at-large congressional district race to Democrat Mary Peltoa.

Former TV doctor Mehmet Oz, backed by Trump, narrowly lost his Senate race in the swing seat of Pennsylvania to progressive Democrat John Fetterman.

Other high-profile Trump-backed losses include Kari Lake, Don Bulduc, JR Majewski, Blake Masters, and Joe Kent. Meanwhile, the fate of Herschel Walker, running for Georgia's Senate seat, is in the balance as the race heads to a runoff in December.