Senator Lisa Murkowski (Rino-AK), if she chooses to run for office again in 2022, will have at least one GOP primary challenger after Alaska Department of Administration Commissioner Kelly Tshibaka announced Monday she will run for the state’s Senate seat in 2022, as reported by The Epoch Times.
In a statement, Tshibaka, a Republican, said she’s running “for the Alaskans who believe government is of the people, by the people, and for the people,” adding that “the D.C. insiders need to be held accountable to us.”
Murkowski has faced backlash from within the Republican Party in recent weeks, coming after she voted to convict former President Donald Trump in his second impeachment trial. The Alaska GOP voted to censure Murkowski over the vote in March, while accusing her of frequently voting against the interests of the party.
“We know what Washington, D.C. thinks about Alaska: We’re here for their benefit, and we won’t put up much of a fight. After nearly 20 years in D.C., Lisa Murkowski thinks the same way,” Tshibaka also in a video from her campaign. “But you know what? Nothing scares the D.C. political insiders more than the thought of a strong, independent Alaskan leader in their ranks. One they can’t bully. One they can’t control. One they can’t silence.”
It’s not clear yet if Murkowski, who was first appointed to the Senate by her father who was then-Gov. Frank Murkowski in 2002, will seek reelection. President Trump announced during a speech in late February that he would move to primary her and other GOP lawmakers who either voted to impeach or convict him.
“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,” the president also said in a statement in February.
“If the party is to censure me because they felt that I needed to support the party, they can make that statement, but I will make the statement again that my obligation is to support the Constitution that I have pledged to uphold, and I will do that, even if it means I have to oppose the direction of my state party,” Murkowski said of her impeachment vote, according to the Anchorage Daily News.
When speaking to reporters in February, she did not directly say whether she would run again in 2022 but said she’s “absolutely leaving the avenues open for my reelection opportunities.”
“If Sen. Murkowski runs again, I’m going to support her,” Sen. Dan Sullivan (R), Alaska’s other senator, told ABC News on Sunday. “When I ran in 2014 and beat a Democrat incumbent and we got the Senate majority back, Sen. Murkowski was a strong supporter of mine,” he reasoned.
FYI Senator Sullivan, a Republican majority is a majority in name only with RINOs sprinkled in the mix. Rationale being, those damn RINOs can’t be trusted. They too often vote against the Republican initiative, as in the case of Murkowski and her vote to impeach President Trump. Further, a word of caution: I’m confident the people of Alaska have a close watch on your voting record. Don’t you go RINO on them or you’ll be primaried too.
What say you Def-Con News readers? I say ‘Murkowski good riddance. Don’t let the door hit ya in the ass.’ Get out of politics for the good of the Republican party, for the good of your state of Alaska, and for the good of the United States of America.
