The Republican Party of Alaska promises to “recruit” an opponent for Senator Lisa Murkowski if she runs for reelection next year, but don’t expect the Republican National Committee (RNC) or the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) to join efforts against the state’s senior senator.
National party president Ronna McDaniel emphasized to Fox News in January that “the RNC remains neutral in the primaries for a very good reason. Because someone has to be there to pick up the pieces of the difficult primaries and help bring the party together.”
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On Tuesday, in the wake of Saturday’s action by the Alaskan Republican Party to censor Murkowski and recruit an opponent in the primaries against the longtime senator, an RNC official reiterated that the party committee remains neutral in the Republican primaries.
NRSC President Senator Rick Scott of Florida has repeatedly said that the Republican Senate’s reelection committee, as required by the bylaws, will support incumbent senators running for reelection mid-term next year when the Republican Party it needs a net gain of just one seat to win back the majority in the House lost in the 2020 electoral cycle.
“I will clearly support our representatives,” Scott told Fox News earlier this year.
December 14, 2020 – Washington, DC, United States: U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) speaking at a press conference to present a bipartisan and bicameral relief bill from COVID. (Photo by Michael Brochstein / Sipa USA) No Use UK. Germany is no use.
(Reuters)
Murkowski, who has yet to say whether he will run for a fourth six-year term in the Senate next year, is the only one of seven Republican senators who voted last month to convict former President Donald Trump in his impeachment trial. will be re-elected in 2022.
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The Republican Party of Alaska on Saturday passed a resolution censoring Murkowski for his vote in the impeachment trial and for several other votes she got that angered Republicans in the state.
Among those votes, according to the resolution, is his opposition to the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, better known as ObamaCare, voting “gift” instead of supporting Supreme Court Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation, and his support this month for confirmation. from Rep. Deb Haaland as Secretary of the Interior. Murkowski and another Alaskan senator – Dan Sullivan – were among the four Senate Republicans who voted to confirm Haaland this week as the first Native American to serve as cabinet secretary.
The resolution states that Murkowski “repeatedly spoke critically of President Trump throughout his term” and that “the Republican Party of Alaska thereby separates from Senator Murkowski’s vote of conviction from President Trump”.
In addition to censoring Murkowski – a move that other state Republican parties have taken against House and Senate legislators in their states who voted to impeach or condemn Trump – the resolution also states that “the party, through him, will recruit a Republican candidate to to oppose and prohibit Sen. Murkowski from being a candidate in any Republican primary to the extent legally permitted. “
The Alaskan GOP move came less than a week after Trump promised to campaign against Murkowski next year.
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“She misrepresents her state and her country even worse. I don’t 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,” said the former president in a demonstration.
Murkowski is well aware of his own party’s fierce opposition. When she was running for re-election in 2010, the senator lost the GOP primaries to Tea Pary challenger Joe Miller, who was supported by former Alaskan governor Sarah Palin.
But Murkowski, after his defeat in the primaries, launched a written campaign and won the general election.