The Alaska Republican Party on Saturday voted to censure Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) at its quarterly meeting and pledged to support a primary challenger against the incumbent lawmaker.
In January, Murkowski joined six other Republican senators in voting to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial in which the former president was acquitted of inciting the deadly January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
“There’s a number of issues that the party has had with Sen. Murkowski for the last several years which really culminated in the conviction vote of former President Trump,” said Kris Warren, head of the Anchorage Republican Party group. “She’s repeatedly spoken out against President Trump over the years in spite of all the great accomplishments he had that helped the country and certainly helped Alaska.”
Earlier this March, Trump promised to campaign against Murkowski, who is up for re-election in 2022.
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Alaska GOP Censures Murkowski
Warren said he was upset with Murkowski over past votes to preserve the Affordable Care Act and against an amendment to the most recent coronavirus relief package that would have banned trans women from competing in sports. He took issue with her decision to vote present on the nomination of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, and her support for Rep. Deb Haaland (D-N.M.), President Biden’s choice to lead the Interior Department.
But the resolution focused most on Murkowski’s relationship with the former president.
“She’s repeatedly spoken out against President Trump over the years in spite of all the great accomplishments he had that helped the country and certainly helped Alaska,” Warren said.
Murkowski’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. She has not said whether she will seek a fourth full term, though her campaign account had $1 million in the bank at the end of 2020.
Warren declined to speculate on potential challengers who might take on the three-term Republican, who took office in 2002 to succeed her father after he became governor. Former Gov. Sarah Palin (R) has issued vague threats about running herself, though she is not seen as a likely candidate a dozen years after she left the governor’s mansion in the middle of her first term.
via joemiller
Alaska Republican Party Censures Sen. Lisa Murkowski, Pledges Primary Challenge
