Pro-impeachment Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) vowed to enable the Democrats’ agenda in her final pitch to Alaskan voters.
It is not the first time Murkowski pledged to help the Biden administration further its agenda. She stated in September she would help the Biden administration because they are in office.
“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.”
Murkowski has helped Democrats in the past two years by voting with them nine times.
Those votes supported 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 has even promised to vote for the Democrat in the Alaska House election. “I know that bothers some people who want me to be that rigid, partisan person, and I’m just not… I do not toe the party line just because party leaders have asked or because it may be expected,” Murkowski told Anchorage Daily News in October.
In March, 2021, Murkowski was censured by the Alaska Republican Party and asked to leave. Murkowski refused. In turn, Sen. Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) backed super PAC has donated about $9 million to Murkowski’s campaign to defeat Trump-endorsed Kelly Tshibaka.
In total, Murkowski has outspent Tshibaka by about $7.5 million, though polling shows Tshibaka is leading by a slim margin. Eighty-five percent of Murkowski’s campaign contributions have come from out-of-state donors.
Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.