Trump says he will campaign against Murkowski in Alaska next year

“I will not endorse, under any circumstances, the failed candidate from the great Alaskan state, Lisa Murkowski,” Trump said in a statement released for the first time by the Politician. “She misrepresents her state and her country even worse. I don’t know where the other people will be next year, but I know where I will be – in Alaska campaigning against a disloyal and very bad senator.”
On Saturday, it was not the first time that Trump threatened to campaign against Murkowski, promising to do so in a series of critical tweets in June. But his attacks on Republican presidents are another example of the sharp divide between the established wing of the party, represented by people like Murkowski and the leader of the minority in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, and the Trump wing after his presidency.
Murkowski was one of seven Republican senators who voted to condemn Trump in his second impeachment trial last month and is the only one to have votes next year.

During Trump’s first public speech since leaving office at the Conservative Political Action Conference late last month, he called Murkowski and other Republicans who supported the impeachment of “big shots” and “Republicans in name only”, or “RINOs “.

But earlier this week, McConnell pledged that Senate Republicans will support Murkowski regardless of Trump’s actions.

“Absolutely,” replied McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, when asked by CNN whether the National Republican Senatorial Committee would support Murkowski.

In his statement on Saturday, Trump pointed to Murkowski’s vote to confirm Deb Haaland, President Joe Biden’s nominee for Secretary of the Interior.

“The (Murkowski) vote to promote radical leftist Democrat (sic) Deb Haaland for Secretary of the Interior is yet another example of Murkowski not defending Alaska,” said Trump.

CNN contacted Murkowski’s office for comment.

The moderate Republican has experience in surviving challenges from the right. In 2010, for example, after losing the Republican nomination (and the support of the Republican Party leadership), she won the general election as a written candidate. Also working in favor of the senator in this cycle may be a new system of the “first four” in the state, in which all candidates run together in a non-partisan primary and the top four candidates advance to the general election, where voters rank their preferences.

CNN’s Manu Raju and Ted Barrett contributed to this report.

.Source