Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) openly admitted that she and her Republican colleagues were “all afraid” of “retaliation” from Donald Trump as she criticized what she called “unlawful” executive overreach and sweeping federal cuts.
Murkowski’s comments came during a 45-minute session at The Foraker Group’s annual leadership summit and stands as one of the starkest public admissions from a Republican yet of the political pressure facing those in the party who push back against Trump policy or rhetoric.
“We are all afraid,” Murkowski told the crowd on Monday.
Pausing, she added: “It’s quite a statement. But we are in a time and a place where I certainly have not been here before. And I’ll tell ya, I’m oftentimes very anxious myself about using my voice, because retaliation is real. And that’s not right.”
No, she was on the ballot with Kelly Chewbacca as the token MAGA candidate. Alaska has ranked choice, so the R ticket split, but people were able to list Murkowski as a backup to their D (or 3rd party) pick.
Ok, so Republicans tried to defeat her but Alaska’s election system stopped them. Seems like she’s in a uniquely secure position to be doing more.
Yeah, for now and we’ll see what happens in 2028.
Ranked choice voting is constantly under attack on every ballot in Alaska and it survived 2024’s election by an absolutely razor-thin margin.