Former President Donald Trump blasted Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) on Monday for diverting PAC funds away from Arizona Senate candidate Blake Masters to bolster the reelection campaign of Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK).
“The Old Broken Crow, Mitchell McConnell, is authorizing $9 Million Dollars to be spent in order to beat a great Republican, Kelly [Tshibaka], instead of $9 Million Dollars that could be used for Blake Masters, and other Republicans, that with this money would beat their Democrat opponent,” Trump posted on Truth Social.
The former President doesn’t think it’s a good idea to pull campaign funds from Masters’ battle with incumbent Sen. Mark Kelly, (D-AZ) — a typical Republican vs. Democrat showdown for the Nov. 8 midterm elections. After all, in Alaska, the top two candidates for the Senate seat are both Republicans — the incumbent Murkowski, and the Trump-backed challenger Tshibaka.
Both Masters and Tshibaka already have Trump’s support along with the thousands who support their America First agenda, unlike Murkowski who voted to convict in Trump’s second impeachment trial.
According to the Anchorage Daily News, the Senate Leadership Fund, a Republican PAC with ties to McConnell, funded radio, TV, and Web ads in Alaska, knocking Tshibaka’s credibility as a candidate over Murkowski.
McConnell sparked outrage in August when he questioned the “quality of candidates” that Trump put forward during the primaries, even suggesting that Republicans may fall short of taking the Senate because of it.
“I think there’s probably a greater likelihood the House flips [to Republicans] than the Senate,” said McConnell, according to NBC News. “Senate races are just different. They’re statewide. Candidate quality has a lot to do with the outcome.”