Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) announced Friday she is running for reelection in 2022 against a Trump-endorsed primary opponent.
Murkowski is the first Republican senator who voted to impeach President Trump to announce a reelection bid, Breitbart reports.
“My heart is, and always has been, in Alaska, and that’s why I am proud to announce my campaign for reelection to the U.S. Senate in 2022,” Murkowski said in a statement. “I pledged to be Alaska, always. I’m still committed to those values and meeting the challenges Alaskans face today.”
Trump is backing former Alaska Commissioner of Administration Kelly Tshibaka in the GOP primary against Murkowski, who has been in office since 2002, appointed by her father Frank, when he became governor.
Tshibaka accuses Murkowski of voting with D.C. insiders, “especially the liberal ones” and hurting Alaskans’ way of life.
“She supported Joe Biden for president and his radical agenda to stop oil and gas development, killing Alaska jobs, so now our economy just continues to suffer while D.C. just treats us like its national park playground,” Tshibaka said in her announcement.
The incumbent Republican is tough to defeat in the general election, however, having won a write-in campaign in 2010 after losing the primary to Tea Party candidate Joe Miller.
