Former President Trump
Donald TrumpTrump announces new portion of approvals to DeSantis, Pence was confirmed in 2024 Republican poll. Lawmakers demand changes after National Guard troops at Capitol become ill from contaminated food MORE promised to travel to Alaska to face Sen. Lisa Murkowski
Lisa Ann MurkowskiSenate rejects Sanders’ minimum wage increase The Hill’s Morning Report – Presented by Facebook – Virus relief bill on the way to the weekend vote Hillicon Valley: YouTube to restore Trump’s bill | The House-passed election bill is aimed at foreign interference | Senators introduce legislation to create MORE international technology partnerships (R) next year if she wants re-election.
Murkowski, who first took office in 2002, has been a longtime critic of the former president and top GOP game card in recent votes. She held her party this week by announcing that she Rep. Deb Haaland
Deb Haaland The Hill’s Morning Report – Presented by Facebook – Virus relief bill on the way to weekend vote The Hill’s 12:30 Report – Presented by ExxonMobil – Increased security on Capitol Hill amid QAnon’s date of March 4 Murkowski agrees with Senate panel the nomination of Haaland MORE(DN.M.)’s nomination to serve as Home Secretary, and she was one of seven Senate Republicans who voted in his indictment last month to convict Trump.
She is the only one of the seven who wants re-election in 2022.
“I will under no circumstances endorse the failed candidate of 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, “Trump said in a statement to The Hill. “Her vote to promote radical left-wing Democrat Deb Haaland as Home Secretary is another example of Murkowski not standing up for Alaska.”
The threat is the latest indication that Trump intends to exert himself strongly in 2022 races across the country.
Republicans predict that Trump will promote himself as a kingmaker in the GOP as he devises a 2024 bid of his own. While he has seen his nationwide approval rating since the January 6 riot on Capitol Hill, his endorsement is still coveted by Republican candidates eager to involve themselves with a grassroots level that still overwhelmingly supports the former president.
In his first ratification since leaving office, Trump has mostly supported current lawmakers who also enjoy support from the establishment. However, he urged lawmakers to fight for their defeats if he felt they did not adequately support his or her agenda – with his threat against Murkowski as a reminder that the fact that he was not protected alone against a Trump challenge.
‘Where necessary and appropriate, I will support primary competitors that are making America America Great Again and our America First policies. “We want brilliant, strong, thoughtful and compassionate leadership,” Trump said in a statement last month.
Trump has endorsed the threat and former White House aide Max Miller, who Rep. Anthony GonzalezAnthony Gonzalez Trump announces new parts of Republican approval, please save your party’s GOP campaign chief of the House: Not helpful for Trump to interfere in the primary (R-Ohio), one of the 10 Republicans in the House who voted to accuse Trump of his role in inciting the deadly January 6 uprising.
Trump’s feud with Murkowski goes back to at least 2018. Murkowski opposed the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh
Brett Michael Kavanaugh Justice hears scurry over the scope of the guarantees for minority voters Supreme Court faces an excellent challenge on the right to vote. Is ‘Cover-up Cuomo’ going to go up to ‘jail to the head’? MORE the year to the Supreme Court and in 2020 said that Trump should not nominate a replacement for the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Ruth Bader Ginsburg Barrett writers first opinion of the Supreme Court majority against the environmental group How to pass legislation in the Senate without eliminating the filibuster bill set up to create RBG monument on Capitol Hill MORE after Republicans in 2016 refused to take up then-President Obama’s nomination to fill a vacancy in the Supreme Court in an election year.
While Trump’s threat against Murkowski is the strongest sign that he intends to oust her, the Alaska Republican is no election man.
Murkowski lost the GOP primary to a right-wing activist in 2010, but eventually won the re-election via an enrollment campaign, emphasizing her appeal to voters outside her party affiliation. And below Alaska’s ranking with the best choice, the four best voters will move on in an open primary to the general election, meaning she will not have the same biased pressure on her as in 2010.
In addition, Murkowski is expected to gain support from party organs. Senator Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said in January that he would support current GOP senators against Trump-backed primary challengers.
Republicans have expressed concern that challenges to current GOP legislators could jeopardize their chances in the medium term. Republicans are just five seats away from gaining control of the House and one seat from the Senate conquest and have looked at division in their early messages.
‘Maybe in softer times, a lot of infighting and arguments won’t do much harm. “Truly, I enjoy chatting back and forth, and I have no interest in trying to suppress intra-party policy dialogue and debate,” Scott wrote in a February memorandum. “But this is not the time for division, and that is why: for the first time in one of our lives, socialism has become the shameless, governing policy of the Democratic Party.”
Still, the threat of a Trump challenge poses real risks to sitting lawmakers – a reality Murkowski acknowledged last month after her vote to convict Trump.
‘I know that my actions and my voice can have political consequences. And I understand that. I absolutely understand that, ”she said. “But I can not be afraid of that.”
Murkowski’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Hill regarding Trump’s vow, which was first reported by Politico.