WASHINGTON — Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski said Saturday she may not vote for the former president Donald Trump If he wins his party’s nomination again in 2024 — but that doesn’t mean he can cross party lines for the presidency Joe Bideneither.
Murkowski said she couldn’t vote for Trump in a phone call with NBC News on Saturday night, adding, “I can’t vote for Biden.”
He urged those like him who want an alternative to “not opt out” of former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley’s long-shot GOP bid.
“I want to encourage anyone who believes that America is better than a repeat of what we got from 2020,” the Alaska senator said on Super Tuesday, just before his state’s primary election a day later. He supported Haley. “I don’t want to see that white flag go up.”
Pressing why not, he simply said, “Why not? … It’s not just a case of Nikki being the lesser of evils. He is a qualified, capable, capable leader at a time when the country needs them. I refuse to accept it [Trump and Biden are] my only two choices.”
Murkowski endorsed Haley on Friday and was followed shortly thereafter by a Trump critic in the upper chamber, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.
Murkowski, who previously admitted that he did not vote for Trump in 2020, voted to impeach him after the January 6, 2021 uprising. Trump, who was acquitted of these charges, later endorsed his primary opponent, who ran unsuccessfully against Murkowski in 2022.
Now that Murkowski has endorsed her opponent in Trump’s race, questions are being raised about the validity of Haley’s candidacy, given that the former United Nations ambassador has yet to win a primary. If Haley were to drop out, Murkowski says he and others wouldn’t be sure what to do in 2024.
“Lisa Murkowski is not the only one in this camp right now,” Murkowski said.