An Aug. 16 GOP primary for incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, was already going to prove difficult for her reelection hopes, but voting for gun control measures in the Senate has exposed her campaign.
Before voting to expand background checks, Murkowski's campaign was fundraising on a platform to protect the Second Amendment for Alaska voters in Facebook messages, Breitbart reported.
"Lisa needs your help," one Spring ad on Facebook read. "Democrats want to take away your right to bear arms. Can you join her and stand up to the radical left to protect our Second Amendment rights?"
Another ad, bearing Biden's photo urged, according to the report: "This can't wait. The far left wants to abolish the Second Amendment. They want to take away your rights and we have to stop them."
Senate GOP primary candidate Kelly Tshibaka, who is endorsed by former President Donald Trump, has been calling out Murkowski's hypocrisy for weeks.
"Time after time, Lisa Murkowski demonstrates why people on both sides of important issues just don't trust her," Tshibaka wrote in a late-June statement. "When she visits Alaska, she pretends to be a friend of the Second Amendment, but when she's in Washington, D.C., she sides with the elites and the insiders and votes against the interests of law-abiding Alaskans. At least Democrat Pat Chesbro is honest about her support for restricting the rights of our citizens, so you know where she stands."
Tshibaka is seizing on Murkowski's vote for a Senate gun control bill that President Joe Biden signed into law June 25.
"The lawful ownership of firearms is part of who we are as Alaskans, both for hunting and for self-defense," Tshibaka's statement continued. "Perhaps Murkowski missed the part of the Second Amendment where it says, 'shall not be infringed.' After 21 years in the Senate for Murkowski, there is no question that it's time for a change. When I'm the next senator from Alaska, I will always fight for the constitutional rights of our people, and I will always defend the Second Amendment."
Tshibaka "is a powerful supporter of the Second Amendment," Trump wrote in his official endorsement for Murkowski's challenger last November.
"We all agree that mental health is a problem that needs to be addressed, but I will never support legislation that restricts the rights of law-abiding Alaskans," Tshibaka added in another late-June statement. "Red flag laws, for example, are easily abused to improperly deny lawful gun ownership to citizens, including men and women who have served this country in the military."
Tshibaka added she would have voted against Biden's new gun-control law.
"In Alaska, the lawful ownership of firearms is part of who we are, but Murkowski is too intent on impressing her elite D.C. friends that she's forgotten all about us," her second statement concluded. "When I'm the next senator from Alaska, I will always fight for our constitutional rights, I will always stand up for the Second Amendment, and I would have voted against this gun control bill."
Trump is hosting a July 9 Save America rally in Anchorage to stump for his endorsed candidates, including House candidate Sarah Palin, and campaign against Murkowski. Newsmax will air the rally live, including Trump's speech in full, starting at 9 p.m. ET. Pre-rally coverage starts at 8 p.m. ET and will include analysis and live look-ins at other speakers.
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Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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