‘Get any candidate ready, good or bad, I don’t care, I’m endorsing…’
(Joshua Paladino, Liberty Headlines) After Sen. Lisa Murkowski‘s, R-Alaska, said she is “struggling” to support President Donald Trump, he said he will support any candidate with a “pulse” against her in 2020, CBS News reported.
Murkowski made the comments in response to Gen. James Mattis, who put out a statement in which he called Trump a threat to the Constitution. Mattis blamed Trump for dividing the country.
She said Mattis’s criticism of Trump was “true and honest, and necessary and overdue,” despite nearly identical criticisms being lobbed at the president on a daily basis.
Trump responded on Twitter.
Few people know where they’ll be in two years from now, but I do, in the Great State of Alaska (which I love) campaigning against Senator Lisa Murkowski. She voted against HealthCare, Justice Kavanaugh, and much else…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 4, 2020
…Unrelated, I gave Alaska ANWR, major highways, and more. Get any candidate ready, good or bad, I don’t care, I’m endorsing. If you have a pulse, I’m with you!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 4, 2020
In the immediate aftermath of the nation-rending vote to confirm Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh—in which Murkowski was the only GOP senator to vote against him, Alaska’s most famous Republican female politician, Sarah Palin, hinted at the possibility of a run.
Hey @LisaMurkowski – I can see 2022 from my house…
— Sarah Palin (@SarahPalinUSA) October 5, 2018
Murkowski came to hold Alaska’s Senate seat from her father, Frank Murkowski.
Frank held one of Alaska’s Senate seats from 1981 to 2002. Alaskans elected him to be governor in 2002.
When Frank vacated his Senate seat, he appointed Lisa.
Lisa Murkowki won reelection in 2004, but she faced a strong primary challenger, Joe Miller, in 2010.
Miller—a Tea Party candidate endorsed by then Gov. Palin—won the Republican primary, but Murkowski refused to exit the race.
She won a write-in campaign in the general election with strong support from unions and PACs.
Murkowski won both the Republican primary and the general election by wide margins in 2016. She did not endorse Trump.