Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Sen. Lisa Markowski of Alaska are primaries tonight. It is done.
The political situations of the two women are strikingly similar. Both represent mostly rural Republican states, and both hold seats once occupied by their fathers. Markowski's father, Frank Markowski, chose her to replace him when he became governor, a position she held throughout the 1980s.
Both drew the ire of Donald Trump .Cheney was among the 10 people who voted to convict Trump of his role in the Jan. 6 riots. A Republican in the House of Representatives, Markowski joined six other Republican senators in their convictions.
But the similarities only go so far. While Cheney will likely see her career in elected office come to an end, Murkowski will likely be elected to the general election despite the fact that she has a major challenger Trump backs.
On the surface, it may seem puzzling. Cheney is a member of the House Republican Party leadership and has a record of being staunchly conservative, including93% of the timeto vote for Trump. Markowski, by contrast, has far surpassed Trump during his presidency. She even voted against repealing Obamacare in her 2017. She was threatened by Trump's Secretary of the Interior, Ryan Zinke, that her opposition wouldjeopardize Alaska's future. She also opposed Brett Kavanaugh's admission to the Supreme Court in 2018, but she voted. She confirms judges Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett.
The point is that the two women are fighting in very different political environments. For example, his 70% of Wyoming voters supported Trump in 2020, while Alaska voted for Trump by just 10 points behind her. This simply means that there are more Trump fanatics in Cowboys and less Trump enthusiasts in Alaska.
On top of that, these two of hers face different kinds of primaries. Cheney is running in the traditional primary, where registered Republicans select candidates. So she faces a lot of voters who voted for Trump and still support him. Conversely, Murkowski is running in a new top-four ranked choice primary system, with her four candidates receiving the most votes advancing to the general election.
This will allow Murkowski to appeal to a wider audience of voters who are not MAGA followers. Some Democrats may like her support for abortion rights and same-sex marriage and her opposition to Trump. The former president has criticized the system, fearing it could dampen the momentum of his favorite candidate, Kelly Tzibaka.
Yet another major difference in her that may define the different fortunes of the two women is the nature of her two Houses of Parliament which they occupy.
The Senate has come a long way from the impeachment trial, returning to the fold welcomed by many Republicans who initially challenged the election results, as well as Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley, who opposed it after the riots. The same goes for Markowski and her peers who voted for impeachment. Mitt Romney, Pat Toomey, Richard Burr, Ben Sasse, Susan Collins, Bill Cassidy. The
house is very different. Even after the Jan. 6 riots, 147 House Republicans — far more than the caucus majority — voted against the election result. And after the Senate's ensuing impeachment trial, in which Trump was acquitted, the House became even more bitter. Tensions have only escalated since then, with members required to pass through metal detectors before entering the floor. Cheney's leading role in the party angered House Republicans, who ousted her from her position as the third-oldest member. of their caucuses. Minority leader Kevin McCarthy supports an attempt to oust her from House leadership as he takes the unprecedented step of backing her leading challenger, Harriet Hageman. stepped out.
Conversely, Markowski continued to work with Democrats and occasionally voted for the Biden administration, but Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has imposed no punishment on her. Although he did not vote to convict Trump of the riots, McConnell has done nothing to hide his contempt. I remember calling it.
Indeed, McConnell's dismissal of her Murkowski as Senate leader was not for crossing party ideologies. That was when he failed to beat Joe Miller in the 2010 Senate primary, and McConnell committed one unacceptable sin: losing. I corresponded.
