GOP Senator's Impeachment Vote Comes Back to Haunt Her as Trump Endorses Her Primary Challenger
Former President Donald Trump released a statement on Friday to officially endorse Alaska Republican U.S. Senate candidate Kelly Tshibaka, opposing incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski who voted to impeach the former president after the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol incursion.
“Lisa Murkowski is bad for Alaska,” Trump said in the statement. “Her vote to confirm Biden’s Interior Secretary was a vote to kill long sought for, and approved, ANWR, and Alaska jobs.”
He added, “Murkowski has got to go!”
In a move that will likely surprise no one, Fmr. President Trump has officially endorsed Republican Kelly Tshibaka for US Senate in Alaska in 2022, pitting her against incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski for the Aug ’22 primary. pic.twitter.com/d33sV2HtA5
— Nathaniel Reed (@ReedReports) June 18, 2021
Tshibaka launched her campaign against Murkowski in March, contrasting her conservative values with those of the sitting senator.
Endorsing Tshibaka as his choice to replace Murkowski, Trump said, “Kelly Tshibaka is the candidate who can beat Murkowski — and she will. Kelly is a fighter who stands for Alaska values and America First.”
He added, “She is MAGA all the way, pro-energy, strong on the Border, tough on Crime and totally supports our Military and our great Vets. Kelly is a powerful supporter of the Second Amendment and JOBS! I look forward to campaigning in Alaska for Kelly Tshibaka. She has my Complete and Total Endorsement!”
Hi, I’m Kelly. We’re going to defeat Lisa Murkowski in 2022. #AKsen pic.twitter.com/UTe4PIZlfQ
— Kelly Tshibaka (@KellyForAlaska) March 29, 2021
“We know what Washington, D.C., thinks about Alaska: We’re here for their benefit — we’re not going to put up much of a fight. After about 20 years in D.C., Lisa Murkowski thinks the same way,” Tshibaka said in her campaign video.
The longtime commissioner of the Alaska Department of Administration has declared Murkowski “out of touch” with the Alaskan electorate.
“She’s been voting with all of those D.C. insiders, especially the liberal ones, and she’s been hurting our way of life,” Tshibaka added in her video.
Opposite the incumbent, she presented herself as the “conservative, pro-life, pro-Second Amendment and America first” alternative. The challenger, who publicly opposed the 2020 presidential election result earlier this year, would also go on to highlight a 17-year post-graduate history investigating government waste at the federal level.
“I’m running for every Alaskan who believes that government is of the people, it’s by the people, it’s for the people,” Tshibaka said.
“All those D.C. insiders really need to be held accountable to us,” she added.
Despite voting with Trump an average of 72 percent of the time throughout his four-year tenure, Murkowski has quickly fallen out of favor in light of the 116th Congress, having broken with Republican leadership roughly half the time over a two-year period.
Her split votes on impeachment and the Supreme Court confirmations of Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett only served to further separate the senator from an increasingly conservative base.
According to Newsweek, a Trump-commissioned McLaughlin and Associates poll in March found that just 43 percent of Alaskans viewed Murkowski favorably.
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