Establishment Lisa Murkowski Vows to Assist Biden Administration if Reelected

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), who has been in the Senate for 21 years, pledged this week to help President Joe Biden advance policies counterproductive to the America First movement.

Speaking on the With All Due Respect podcast with Andrew Halcro, Murkowski made it clear she will work with the Biden administration in the next two years if she is able to defeat challenger and Trump-endorsed Kelly Tshibaka.

“I’m working with them to advance things,” she said in reference to Biden’s massive federal spending packages, including the Biden administration’s inflation-fueling infrastructure bill.

Experts believe Biden’s massive spending has fueled 40-year-high inflation, the top midterm issue for voters and one which the president has ignored.

In the past two years, Murkowski has voted with Democrats nine times. Those votes include gun control, corporate coronavirus bailout, confirmation of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, federalizing local elections, the $1.5 trillion omnibus spending bill, $1.2 trillion “infrastructure” bill, confirmation of Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta, confirmation of Department of Homeland (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, and the impeachment of former President Donald Trump.

Murkowski framed her support of Biden’s policies as necessary because he is in power. “I’m not a fan of this administration,” she claimed. “I think a lot of their policies have really hurt us. But you know what? They’re in office. And they’re going to be in office for the next two years.”

Looking ahead to the midterm election in November, Murkowski said she wants to share her voting record with Alaskan voters. “We still have two months to move through an election. I still have a lot of people around this state that I need to engage with. … I want to share with them what I’ve done,” she said.

Murkowski, who is tied in the polls with Tshibaka, admitted she wants to keep her campaign’s focus on herself, not surging Tshibaka. “I’m going to be talking about me. I’m not one that really trash-talks other people,” she said in relation to her competitor.

Three former U.S. Senate candidates in recent weeks have coalesced behind Tshibaka and not behind the 21-year incumbent.

Candidates suspending their campaigns and getting behind Tshibaka is exactly what she needs to win because of Alaska’s ranked choice voting system, which forwards votes from eliminated candidates to stronger, remaining ones as balloting progresses. Their early departure from the race and endorsement of Tshibaka will have an impact on the number of votes that will fall to Tshibaka over Murkowski, as the second and third ballots present themselves.

“Our campaign continues to coalesce grassroots support, and our growing unified front will retire Lisa Murkowski after 21 years in the Senate,” Tshibaka said of endorsements she has received. “We need a senator who will actually fight for Alaska, not bend to the will of the D.C. elites and support Joe Biden’s energy-annihilating, job-killing, gun-grabbing radical agenda at every turn. When I’m in the Senate, I will always stand up for Alaska and against the D.C. insiders.”