Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska has taken former president Donald Trump’s criticisms of her in stride.
Over the weekend, Mr Trump held a rally in Anchorage, Alaska, where he blasted Ms Murkowski, She was one of seven Republicans who voted to convict Mr Trump during his second impeachment trial for his role in the January 6 riot.
“You're going to fire your RINO senator. She's worse than a RINO”, Mr Trump said.
Ms Murkowski and Mr Trump occasionally clashed during his presidency, including over her opposition to repealing the Affordable Care Act and the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
But Ms Murkowski seemed unbothered when asked about Mr Trump.
“He seems to be worried about me”, Ms Murkowski told The Independent.
Mr Trump has endorsed Kelly Tshibaka to challenge Ms Murkowski in the Republicacn primary. He also attacked her for voting to create the January 6select committee.
Though the former president’s criticism is not entirely valid: Ms Murkowski voted to create a bipartisan commission to investigate the January 6 riot, but the legislation was blocked by other Republican senators. The House voted to create the select committee in its stead.
Alaska will have its first ranked-choice voting primary on 16 August. The system would allow voters to rank candidates in their order of preference. If a candidate receives more than 50 per cent of the vote, then they win.
Once a candidate is eliminated, the vote counts toward a voter’s second preference until two candidates are left. In the primary in Alaska, the top four candidates will advance to the general election.
When asked how confident she was that she could win, Ms Murkowski said “extremely”.
Ms Murkowski is also in a strong fundraising position. On Monday, her campaign reported that she raised $1.7m in the most recent fundraising quarter.
“Pretty good strong numbers, didn't you think?” she said. “I think it's a strong endorsement from those who would like to see me returned and I appreciate it very much.”
Mr Trump also attacked Senator Dan Sullivan for endorsing Ms Murkowski. But he did not comment when asked about the former president’s criticism.
“I wasn’t there so I haven’t – I haven’t looked at it”, he told The Independent. When asked what he thought about Mr Trump’s remarks he said Mr Trump isn’t the first person to criticise him for endorsing Ms Murkowski.
