Sen. Lisa Murkowski just threw her 2024 presidential support behind a Democrat, saying that would be her decision if the race boils down to her own party’s Donald Trump and incumbent Joe Biden.
Speaking Thursday on PBS’s “Firing Line,” the senator revealed she would vote for Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) if he decided to run as an independent.
That possibility was endorsed by a group called No Labels, and Murkowski quickly fell in line with the idea. She acknowledged the very real possibility of a rematch of the controversial 2020 presidential election that propelled Biden into the White House.
Murkowski: If 2024 Is Trump or Biden 'I’d Go With Joe Manchin'. . When will Alaska get this rino out of DC🤬🤬🤬🤬 https://t.co/noMVj5Qdse
— kevin waterbury (@WaterburyKevin) July 21, 2023
She further claimed that people “up north” seek an alternative. “They’re asking because they know that I’m very close with Joe Manchin and I brought him up to this state and he endorsed me. I’ve endorsed him.”
Then Murkowski added that in a matchup squaring off Biden and Trump once again, “I know exactly where I’d go. I would go with, I would go with Joe Manchin.”
The senator declared that she did not desire to cast her vote “for the lesser of two evils. If that is her true belief, it is tough to imagine what is keeping her in the Republican Party.
Murkowski told PBS host Margaret Hoover that she has “no qualms” about giving her endorsement to a Democratic candidate. She said the West Virginia senator had assisted her on issues concerning Alaska and in the chamber as well.
She even asserted some of her constituents prodded her to urge Manchin to run. However, Murkowski said, “That’s not for me to do” and expressed uncertainty of the effects of a third-party candidacy in 2024.
Manchin appeared in New Hampshire last week at a town hall sponsored by No Labels. This group purports to be founded on bipartisanship and centrism.
This led to the inevitable chatter about the possibility that he would seek a third-party nomination for the White House, and that led to worry within Democratic ranks.
Some voiced concerns that a Manchin ticket would strip votes away from the unpopular Biden and clear the path for Trump to retake the White House.
