(TheLibertyRevolution.com)- Alaska Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski is going to face a formidable foe in her bid for re-election — former President Donald Trump.
No, Trump isn’t going to be running for Murkowski’s congressional seat. But he has announced that he would campaign against her in the 2022 midterm elections.
In a statement released this weekend, Trump said:
“I will not be endorsing, under any circumstances, the failed candidate from the great State of Alaska, Lisa 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.
“Her vote to advance radical left Democrat Deb Haaland for Secretary of the Interior is yet another example of Murkowski not standing up for Alaska.”
The rift between Trump and Murkowski is nothing new. In fact, it dates all the way back to last June, when Murkowski said she was “struggling” to support Trump in his re-election bid over his handling of the protests in the wake of George Floyd’s death.
Back then, Trump issued a similar statement, this time via Twitter, saying:
“Few people know where they’ll be in two years from now, but I do, in the Great State of Alaska (which I love) campaigning against Senator Lisa Murkowski. Get any candidate ready, good or bad, I don’t care, I’m endorsing. If you have a pulse, I’m with you!”
This latest spat between the former president and the Alaskan senator stems from Murkowski voting to convict Trump during his second impeachment trial in February. Murkowski was one of seven Republican senators who voted to convict Trump — in addition to all Democratic senators.
Trump said in the wake of that happening that he would be rallying support behind challengers to any of those seven senators who were running for re-election.
In addition to Murkowski, those senators include Pat Toomey from Pennsylvania, Ben Sasse from Nebraska, Mitt Romney from Utah, Susan Collins from Maine, Bill Cassidy from Louisiana and Richard Burr from North Carolina.
Murkowsi is the only one of that group of seven who must run for re-election in the 2022 midterms. Burr and Toomey have announced they will not be seeking another term. Both of their seats do expire in 2022, though.
In Alaska, Murkowski could have already been facing a tough re-election campaign. That’s because she was a surprise winner when she first joined Congress.
In 2010, she actually lost the Republican primary to a challenger from the Tea Party. She somehow defied all odds to win the general election, though, as a write-in candidate.
Now, with Trump throwing his support behind her challenger, she could be up for an even tougher fight.
One thing Murkowski will have in her corner is the support of some other prominent Republicans. That includes both Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Rick Scott, the senator from Florida, who is the new chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Commmittee.
