Former President Donald Trump is carrying through on a vow to campaign against never-Trump Republicans who have opposed the Make America Again agenda in Congress.
A primary target will be Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, who was one of seven GOP senators to vote to impeach the former president and is the only one up reelection in 2022.
“I will not be endorsing, under any circumstances, the failed candidate from the great State of Alaska, Lisa Murkowski,” Trump wrote in a statement Saturday, Politico reported.
“She represents her state badly and her country even worse. I do not know where other people will be next year, but I know where I will be — in Alaska campaigning against a disloyal and very bad Senator.”
Murkowski was the lone Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee to approve of the nomination of Rep. Deb Haaland, D-N.M., to serve as interior secretary; “yet another example of Murkowski not standing up for Alaska,” Trump said.
Murkowski’s state of Alaska is a drilling and energy state and Haaland has backed bans on on-shore drilling.
Polling by McLaughlin and Associates has Trump with a 52% favorability rating in Alaska, which trump’s Murkowski’s 43%, according to Politico.
Establishment Republicans fear the Senate majority is at stake in 2022, so backing a challenger to Sen. Murkowski might open the door for a Democrat candidate to slip in, per the report.
Alaska’s ranked-choice voting means all party candidates will compete in an open primary with the top four finishers advancing to a general election.
Still, Murkowski acknowledged her political future was put on the edge by voting to impeach the former president.
“I know that my actions, my vote may have political consequences, and I understand that,” she had said, per Politico. “I absolutely understand that. But I can’t be afraid of that.”
Source: Newmax
