(PatrioticPost.com)- Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has indicated in the past that he was planning to support an enemy of former President Donald Trump, but now he’s putting his money where his mouth is.
Alaska Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski is going to get support from the Senate Leadership Fund in her bid for re-election. That group is aligned with McConnell.
In her bid for re-election, Murkowski is going to face Kelly Tshibaka, who is likely to be backed by Trump. In fact, the challenger has already hired a few advisers who served in similar roles for Trump in the past.
Trump has said that he would support any candidate who ran against Murkowski in the Republican primary leading up to the 2022 midterm elections. His ire for Murkowski came from when she voted to convict the former president during his second impeachment trial earlier this year.
Murkowski has often been considered a moderate Republican and has faced serious challenges from more conservative candidates in the past. Still, she hasn’t faced a candidate who has support from someone as powerful, and popular, as Trump.
It’s why she’ll need all the money that the Senate Leadership Fund can spare. In the last election cycle alone, the group spend $476 million on Senate races, which is almost an unheard of amount.
Steven Law, the president of the SLF, said:
“Alaska needs the kind of experienced representation that Lisa Murkowski provides in the United States Senate. Whether fighting for Alaskan interests like expanding energy production and protecting fisheries, or advancing conservative priorities by confirming judges and cutting taxes, her strong leadership is vitally important to Alaska’s future.”
Since leaving the White House in January, Trump has promised to remain involved in Republican politics. He’s taken a keen eye on the 2022 midterm elections, looking to shape Congress in his mold.
While he’s given endorsements to some incumbent Republican senators already, he has also promised to campaign against member of the GOP who voted for his impeachment or conviction. Murkowski is one of those people.
In March, Trump said of Murkowski:
“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.”
Tshibaka is a former commissioner of the Alaska Department of Administration. She began her campaign for the GOP Senate seat in March. She’s positioned herself already as an outsider who is looking to face a powerful, long-time “insider.”
In response to the endorsement SLF gave to Murkowski, Mary Ann Pruitt, who serves as an adviser to the Tshibaka campaign, said:
“It’s just like D.C. insiders to ignore the voices of Alaska voters to protect one of their own.”
Murkowski was originally appointed to her Senate seat in 2002. It was her father, then-Governor Frank Murkowski, who appointed Lisa to his old seat that year. She eventually went on to win her own election to the seat in 2004 and then again in 2010.
