Conservative women’s group backing Murkowski challenger

Conservative women’s group Maggie’s List announced on Wednesday it would back Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s (Alaska) primary challenger Kelly Tshibaka, marking the first time the group backed a challenger to a female incumbent running for office. 

Fox News was the first outlet to report on the endorsement. Maggie’s List also told the outlet it was endorsing GOP House candidate Esther Joy King in Illinois’s 17th Congressional District and Tanya Wheeless in Arizona’s 9th Congressional District. 

“Conservative candidates have an important mission in the 2022 elections – to regain control of both houses of Congress and we at Maggie’s List believe that our endorse candidates present the best opportunity to win their respective elections in November,” Maggie’s List spokesperson and former Florida Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll (R) told the outlet, adding that the group was “proud to endorse these three candidates who have already demonstrated their commitment to conservative values and serving our nation.”

A number of other prominent Republicans and Republican groups have also moved to endorse Tshibaka over Murkowski, including former President Trump and the Alaska Republican Party. The moves to support Tshibaka over Murkowski are a growing indication that Republicans are willing to break with members of their own party who have been critical of Trump. 

The former president won Alaska by roughly 10 points in 2020. 

Murkowski, who has been one of the most vocal critics of Trump in the Senate, voted to convict him during his impeachment trial earlier this year. She is the only one of the seven Republican senators who voted to convict him who has to face reelection in 2022. 

The incumbent senator appeared to brush off concerns over the political fallout of her vote to convict earlier this year in an interview with Politico.

“This was consequential on many levels, but I cannot allow the significance of my vote, to be devalued by whether or not I feel that this is helpful for my political ambitions,” she told the outlet.