A second Republican Senate candidate announced today that they will not support Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell.
The news follows Sen. Lindsey Graham's suggestion on national television that McConnell couldn't remain the leader of Senate Republicans if Trump continues to loathe him.
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Kelly Tshibaka won Trump's endorsement early on in her campaign against Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska). Whoever wins the Republican primary will likely become the frontrunner in the general election.
The Hill reports:
“The actions of McConnell and Murkowski on the debt ceiling show that it's the political elites pitted against real Americans. When I defeat Murkowski and become Alaska's next U.S. Senator, I will not support Mitch McConnell as leader. It's time for new, America First leadership in the Senate,” Tshibaka said.
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Tshibaka, a former state administration commissioner, quit her position earlier this year to challenge Murkowski. Trump endorsed Tshibaka, who has hired several former Trump advisers as campaign consultants, after Murkowski voted to convict the former president in his second impeachment trial.
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Murkowski, seeking her fourth full term in the Senate, is no stranger to upstart challengers. She lost her bid for renomination in 2010, though she won the general election as a write-in candidate.
By the end of September, Tshibaka reported raising $1.2 million and banking just $294,000. Murkowski's campaign reported to the Federal Election Commission it had $3.2 million in the bank.
Tshibaka's announcement makes her the second prominent GOP Senate candidate to say they wouldn't support McConnell. The first being former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens.
McConnell famously fell out of favor with Trump after he recognized Joe Biden as the winner of the presidential election.
Their relationship became even more strained after McConnell spoke out publicly against Trump following the U.S. Capitol attack.
Despite Trump's anger at the Republican Senate Leader, McConnell is credited with keeping a Supreme Court position vacant through 2016, which Trump used to appoint Neil Gorsuch. Observers also credit McConnell with keeping numerous other judicial vacancies open at the tail end of the Obama administration, which Trump used to reshape the judiciary.
Do you think Mitch McConnell should remain the Senate Republican Leader? Tell us in the comments below!
McConnell is awesome. We shouldn’t let Trump’s narcissism and politicians wanting to stroke Trump’s ego in exchange for power become an excuse for dumping one of the best GOP legislators ever.
Who ever supports a traitor like old Mitch the bitch should stop voting. They have passed their expiration date. Besides being the cause of where we area at this present time. New blood has to be pumped into the halls of our shithouses in Washington,d.c. young conservative patriots that have AMERICAN VALUES. Not the slime both parties have there now.
Mitch has DONE his very best for America NOW is the time for him to move on and try and enjoy what is left of our Nation and what it has become…..?????
McConnell has occasionally done something noteworthy for the conservative cause but in the long run he never fails to let conservatives down and side with the liberals over and over and over again.
At times McConnell has surprised me and voted with the conservative Republicans. But too often he shows himself to be the true elitist RINO he is. He has been in his position of power for far too long. It is time for him to go! We need a true Republican who is in touch with the desires of the real American people, not the Washington sewer elitists! There are several true Republican conservatives who I believe would do a much better job. Good-bye Mitch!
It took a lot of guts and savvy for McConnell to derail the nomination of Eric Garlund to the Supreme Court in 2016. I cut him quite a bit of slack based on that achievement, and his effective shepherding of the approvals for Pres. Trump’s judicial nominees. Sen. McConnell is a master of the Senate’s procedures and he knows how to play a long game. Unlike Pres. Trump, he doesn’t have a rude and crude side. So even though it may not always be easy to understand his strategies, looking from the outside, I think that conservative Republicans should support him more than they do. That said, it wouldn’t hurt the party to pass the reins of leadership to a more telegenic and eloquent spokesman like Josh Hawley, Jim Lankford or Rick Scott.