On Monday, the Senate Leadership Fund, the super PAC aligned with McConnell, announced that it had booked more than $7 miIlion worth of ad time in Alaska as GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski tries to fend off a challenge from Kelly Tshibaka, who has been endorsed by the former President. (The group also reserved ad time in six Senate battleground states.)
The move to defend Murkowski isn’t terribly surprising — McConnell has made clear all along that he supports Republican incumbents, including Murkowski.
But the super PAC’s decision to commit $7 million — by way of context, that’s roughly how much Murkowski spent on her 2016 reelection race — to Alaska means that McConnell is sending a not-so-subtle message to Trump: Time to put up or shut up.
See, Murkowski is crushing Tshibaka in fundraising. As of March 31, Murkowski had more than $5.2 million in the bank to spend on the race; Tshibaka had less than $1 million.
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The incumbent was already on pace to heavily outspend the challenger. And now, with the McConnell super PAC weighing in, the advantage on the pro-Murkowski side is, well, massive.
Who could help close that sort of financial gap? How about the former President? His Save America PAC had $110 million — not a typo — in the bank as of the end of February.
Except Trump doesn’t seem inclined to spend that money. As The New York Times wrote over the weekend in a terrific piece on the Trump political organization:
“Mr. Trump can be downright stingy. Though he holds rallies for some candidates, for many his support goes no further than an email and a $5,000 check. Mr. Trump has almost never deployed his huge list of supporters to help other politicians raise money.”
Might that stinginess be changing? Trump’s PAC did recently give $500,000 to a super PAC attacking Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp. So, maybe?
What we do know is that McConnell isn’t screwing around in Alaska. And the ball is very much in Trump’s court.
So the Turtle supports a known RINO. Another bad move by the Turtle, plus Murkowski clearly represents herself not the Republican voters in Alaska. Past time for her & the Turtle to go, enact Term Limits to prevent these & Democratic miscreants from continuously reeking havoc on America.
Don’t count out Tshibaka. Tons of election campaign money is wasted in ads, flyers & commercial lots of people ignore. And raising election spending funds does not alway create wins…….
Sarah Palin is Ur best Bucks worth. MurCowski is a 2 face **** just like McClown is a 2 face *a$sturd. Both of them should have been gone 20 + Year’s ago.. These 2 well Seasoned RINO’S need to be IMPEACHED Stripped of their Retirement and their Titles.
I’m so sick of the RINOs in our party, specifically Collins, Murkowski, Romney, Mushmouth McConnell, and the late Crazy Arms McCain. Like Trump has said, the Democrats will always stick together in the end, while you have the Republicans being set in their beliefs and never come together in the end. The latest example was the vote on Tenaji Jackson with Collins and Murkowski voting the opposite and now Romney joining them. I wish the Republicans vote out McConnell as the Leader after the November election. I call him Mushmouth because he mumbles through his words that it makes him sound very ineffective. Just like Pelosi, it’s time to get rid of these old timers. We need younger, vibrant Leaders in the House and Senate, with new ideas and that could influence all members to vote together as a body for your party.