Top Republican Senator Gets BRUTAL News After Backstabbing Trump
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, the Alaska Republican long known for bucking her party and President Donald Trump, dealt another setback to the administration Friday by announcing she will vote against confirming Todd Blanche as attorney general.
The move comes as the senator faces abysmal approval numbers back home that raise serious questions about her political future in the 2028 cycle.
In a statement released early Friday, Murkowski said she had “numerous constructive meetings” with Blanche, Trump’s former personal defense attorney who has served as acting attorney general since April, and that she found him “decent and capable.”
Yet she declared she would oppose the nomination, citing what she called the “politicization—even weaponization—of the Department” that “has accelerated” under the Trump administration.
Murkowski specifically took issue with the Justice Department’s handling of the release of files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, sweeping immunity protections granted to the president, his family, and their businesses, and statements made to anti-abortion groups.
She also zeroed in on the Department’s nearly $2 billion “anti-weaponization” fund—derided by critics as a potential slush fund that could have rewarded January 6 protesters—arguing it is “only off the table because this nomination is pending and the Senate has leverage. Once we vote, that will end, and there is no telling what the future holds.”
“The country needs an Attorney General who will check the worst impulses of this administration,” Murkowski wrote.
“I hope Mr. Blanche is able to achieve that, if confirmed, but I simply do not have confidence that will be the case,” Murkowski added.
The opposition leaves Blanche’s path to confirmation in jeopardy.
Republicans hold a 53-47 majority, but Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky remains sidelined by health issues, and Sen. Susan Collins of Maine has already declared she will vote no.
All Democrats are expected to oppose the nominee, meaning another Republican defection—potentially from Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who remains undecided—could sink the nomination of the man Trump tapped to lead the Justice Department permanently after firing Pam Bondi.
Blanche, who previously served as deputy attorney general, has been a key figure in the administration’s efforts to reverse what conservatives widely view as the prior weaponization of federal law enforcement against Trump and his allies.
His confirmation had cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee 12-10 this week after he pledged to scrap the controversial fund, yet holdouts like Murkowski continue to prioritize institutional concerns over the president’s clear mandate.
This latest defiance fits a familiar pattern for the Alaska senator, who has repeatedly frustrated Republican voters by crossing party lines on high-stakes issues.
It also arrives against the backdrop of deeply troubling polling data that underscore how far she has drifted from the state’s conservative base.
The most recent detailed statewide survey from Alaska Survey Research, among 1,415 respondents, found just 31.3% of Alaskans approve of the job Murkowski is doing as U.S. senator, while 51.7% disapprove and 17% are unsure—a net rating of roughly -20.
Favorability numbers in the same poll were similarly weak: 12% very positive and 25.6% somewhat positive, against 22.8% somewhat negative and 32.8% very negative.
These figures mark a continuation of the steep decline first captured in Alaska Survey Research’s July 2025 tracking, which showed Murkowski at 33% positive and 60% negative, down sharply from a nearly even 47-44 split earlier that year.
Conservatives in particular have rated her negatively at consistently high rates for years.
Her 2022 reelection victory over Kelly Tshibaka relied on ranked-choice voting and outside support that drew a formal censure from the Alaska Republican Party against Mitch McConnell’s PAC.
With her Senate term running through 2028, the numbers suggest Murkowski enters the next cycle in a precarious position.
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Alaska’s independent-minded electorate has rewarded her brand of moderation in the past, but sustained disapproval above 50% and a collapsed progressive-moderate coalition that once buoyed her leave little room for error.
Analysts note that without recovering support among the very voters who have soured on her post-2024 shifts, a primary challenge or independent run could prove formidable in the Last Frontier’s unique electoral system.
White House officials called Murkowski’s decision “disappointing” while defending Blanche as “exceptionally qualified.”
Popular Republican Wins Minnesota GOP Primary
House Majority Whip Tom Emmer received an overwhelming show of support from Republican voters Tuesday, easily dispatching two challengers seeking to deny him another term in Congress.
But another set of numbers from Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District is attracting attention as both parties begin looking toward a November general election that will involve a much larger electorate.
Emmer won the Republican nomination with 81 percent of the vote, receiving 53,088 votes compared with 10,022 votes, or 15 percent, for Mike Foley and 2,502 votes, or 4 percent, for Chris Corey.
The Republican incumbent will now face DFL nominee Doug Chapin in the Nov. 3 general election after Chapin ran unopposed in Tuesday’s Democratic primary.
Emmer, who has represented the district since 2015, entered the primary with strong institutional support after receiving the 6th Congressional District Republican Party endorsement in May with 91.2 percent of the first-ballot convention vote.
Foley, an Elk River veteran, announced before the convention that he would not abide by the party endorsement and would continue his campaign into the Republican primary regardless of the result.
Foley ultimately improved upon his convention performance but remained far behind Emmer when Republican primary voters made their choice Tuesday.
In Foley’s home base of Sherburne County, he performed only about two percentage points better against Emmer than he did districtwide.
Corey, who previously challenged Emmer in 2024, did not participate in this year’s Republican endorsing convention and finished a distant third Tuesday.
Emmer celebrated the size of his victory while immediately turning his attention toward the general election and his work with President Donald Trump.
“Jacquie and I are blessed for the resounding support and trust of voters across the Sixth District,” Emmer said in a post on X.
“Minnesotans know what is at stake in November – it’s an election of chaos versus common sense, communism versus freedom,” he continued.
“As your Congressman, I’ll continue standing up for our shared conservative values, working alongside President Trump to combat fraud, lower the cost of living and advance our America First agenda,” Emmer said.
“Thank you to all for your continued support!” he added.
While Emmer’s 81-percent victory demonstrated his continued strength among Republican primary voters, Chapin’s vote total offered another data point for observers attempting to gauge Democratic enthusiasm in the district.
Despite having no opponent in the DFL primary, Chapin received 48,395 votes, putting him fewer than 4,700 votes behind Emmer’s individual total and approximately 17,000 votes behind the combined Republican primary vote.
Chapin’s total was also more than two-and-a-half times the total turnout in the district’s competitive 2024 DFL primary, which occurred during a presidential election year.
Democrats have seen other indications of increased organizational participation this cycle, including record statewide turnout during DFL precinct caucuses earlier this year.
In the 6th District, DFL caucus participation was reportedly four times higher than the district’s previous record, with approximately half of participants attending a caucus for the first time.
The share of first-time caucus participants varied substantially across the district, ranging from approximately 30 percent in Sherburne County and the St. Cloud area to roughly 70 percent in Carver County.
Those figures, however, cannot by themselves predict the November result because primary and caucus participation represent only a fraction of the electorate that votes in a general election.
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The combined number of ballots cast across Tuesday’s congressional primaries was approximately one-fifth of the number of votes cast in the district during the 2024 general election, meaning hundreds of thousands of additional voters could participate in November, Star News reported.
Emmer therefore leaves the primary with an overwhelming victory and the Republican nomination secured, while Chapin’s turnout provides Democrats with an early measure of enthusiasm as both campaigns prepare for the much larger electorate expected to decide Minnesota’s 6th District on Nov. 3.
