Former President Donald Trump has said he will campaign against Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and blew her up in a statement over the weekend as a “disloyal and very bad senator.”
“I will under no circumstances endorse the failed candidate of the great state of Alaska, Lisa Murkowski,” Trump said in a statement. “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.”
MURKOWSKI BACK HAALAND Despite ‘MISSIONS’ ON OIL, GAS RESTRICTIONS FOR ALASKA
“Her vote to promote radical left-wing Democrat Deb Haaland as Home Secretary is another example of Murkowski not standing up for Alaska,” he continued.
Trump’s statement is not exactly shocking – he said the same thing in June after Murkowski told reporters she was “struggling” to support the president in his re-election because of the way he handled the George Floyd protests.
FILE – Trump and Murkowski.
(REUTERS / Kevin Lamarque)
More recently, Murkowski was among seven Republican senators who voted to convict Trump on the charge of inciting the Capitol riots on Jan. 6 in the Senate indictment in February.
Although the Cook Political Report considers Murkowski’s seat to be a solid Republican, she’s had close calls in the past. She lost the 2010 Republican primary to a Tea Party challenger, but faced the challenge of beating him as a candidate in the general election.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Trump’s statement could put him at odds with the National Republican Senatorial Committee. The chairman of the committee, Rick Scott, R-Fl., Told Fox News Sunday last week that he would support any sitting Republican senator against primary challengers, even if the challenge is supported by Trump.
Fox News’ query to Murkowski’s office was not immediately returned.
Fox News’ Caitlin McFall contributed to this report.