Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has entered into direct conflict with President Donald Trump in Alaska by siding with Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) in the battler for her seat.
Trump has endorsed her primary challenger, Kelly Tshibaka, and has made it his mission to end Murkowski’s tenure in Washington D.C.
On Monday, McConnell’s super PAC, the Senate Leadership Fund, announced that it secured more than $7 million worth of ad time in Alaska to support Murkowski.
The $7M dropped by McConnell’s PAC is roughly how much Murkowski spent on her entire 2016 reelection race.
“It’s important for Lisa to be reelected. She’s one of the few sort of moderates in the middle of the Senate,” McConnell said before calling her “a key player in advancing bipartisan legislation.”
“This is such a strong year that we need to invest as broadly and deeply as we can,” Steven Law, the Senate Leadership Fund’s president, said.
“In the Senate, majority control is everything.
“It determines what happens on the floor and what doesn’t happen.
“It will have an impact on future Supreme Court nominations.
“I mean, there’s so much at stake.”
“Both parties recognize the core 2022 Senate map as competitive races in several ‘built to be close’ presidential battleground states,” said JB Poersch, the president of the Chuck Schumer connected Senate Majority PAC.
“The GOP carries the burden of bad candidates and a badly damaged brand.
“SMP’s intent is obvious: Hold the Democratic majority in the U.S. Senate.”
President Trump endorsed #KellyTshibaka in the Alaska’s Senate race. Rino Mitch McConnell is supporting Rino Lisa Murkowski. Mitch needs to go NOW!
— TheLeoTerrell (@TheLeoTerrell) April 19, 2022
The false narrative of “independent” for Lisa Murkowski has no legs to stand on. See for yourself. She now votes a majority of the time with Chuck Schumer, voting 20% more often with Schumer than she is with Ted Cruz! Is that representative of Alaskan values or the D.C. Elites? pic.twitter.com/YKWd3Aqtsn
— Kelly Tshibaka – Text KELLY to 20903 (@KellyForAlaska) April 14, 2022
From Politico:
The McConnell-connected Senate Leadership Fund will drop a whopping $37 million in Georgia this fall, $27 million in North Carolina, $24 million in Pennsylvania, $15 million each in Nevada and Wisconsin, $14 million in Arizona and $7.4 million in Alaska.
The Schumer-connected Senate Majority PAC reserved $26 million in Pennsylvania, $22 million in Arizona, $21 million in Nevada, $12 million in Wisconsin, and nearly $25 million in Georgia.
Both sums amount to the biggest early investments by the two groups since they were created.
…The GOP’s Senate Leadership Fund reserved in just six states to start the 2020 battle for Senate control while the Democrats’ Senate Majority PAC reserved in five;
Both groups doubled their footprint as races evolved. As things stand now, the battleground list is smaller in 2022 than it was in 2020.
