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 “.
“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.