Throughout the final days of Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the Supreme Court, only one Republican senator emerged as a hero willing to stand up to her party and do the right thing. Her constituents are showing that they love her for it.
Alaskans are inside and outside of @lisamurkowski’s office, waiting to give her flowers because of her “no” vote this morning. @Ch2KTUU @KTVF11 pic.twitter.com/wizZDBzaU8
— Peter Zampa (@PeterZampa) October 5, 2018
Republicans ranted against her decision, and Trump said that she would “never recover” from it. However, native Alaskan women are fully supporting Murkowski, and they are who got her elected. The senator’s approval rating in Alaska is currently at 40 percent, and Trump’s is at 48 percent and has dropped by seven points in the past year. His voice is not likely to carry much weight with the voting bloc who elected Sen. Murkowski.
The Anchorage Daily News reports that Murkowski responded to criticism from her GOP colleagues by saying:
‘As a senator I’ve got one obligation here. I have to do the work that I believe is necessary in order to inform my decision, weigh and evaluate and use the best judgement I can and ultimately vote my conscious. I expect every one of my colleagues to do the same.’
The Alaskans are here to fight!! #100AKWomen have come to DC to remind @lisamurkowski that Kavanaugh is NO GOOD for our rights, let alone our country. #StopKavanagh #CancelKavanaugh #BrettLies pic.twitter.com/mRuv9won1G
— Heidi L. Sieck (@HeidiSpeaks) October 4, 2018
Perhaps the most famous Alaskan in politics, although “famous” for all the wrong reasons, is former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, who took time out of her busy schedule of bailing her son out of jail for beating up a woman (and therefore might want to sit out of a discussion about violence of any kind against women) to tweet threats at the current senator.
Hey @LisaMurkowski – I can see 2022 from my house…
— Sarah Palin (@SarahPalinUSA) October 5, 2018
Murkowski seemed unbothered by Palin’s obnoxious threats.
‘I understand there are consequences to our actions, whether it’s a vote on a Supreme Court nominee or a vote on a tax bill. There are consequences and if I were to worry everyday about political repercussions or someone saying they were going to run against me, or saying something in newspaper story, I wouldn’t be able to do the job Alaskans expect me to do.’
Worth noting that the only Republican female senator with a law degree is Lisa Murkowski https://t.co/Lbnl6I9VFK
— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) October 6, 2018
Thank you, Sen. Murkowski. Standing up for what is right is never easy, but your voters appreciate having someone who can do so even when their own party hates them for it.
Featured image via Flickr by U.S. Pacific Fleet under a Creative Commons license
