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Cheney and Murkowski: Trump critics facing divergent futures

Alaska U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, center, is shown at the grand opening of her reelection campaign office in Juneau, Alaska, on Thursday, Aug. 11, 2022. Murkowski said she expects to be among the candidates who will advance from the Aug. 16, 2022, U.S. Senate primary in Alaska. Under a system approved by voters and being used in Alaska for the first time this year, the top four vote-getters in the primary, regardless of party affiliation, will advance to the November general election, in which ranked voting will be used. (AP Photo/Becky Bohrer)
Alaska U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, center, is shown at the grand opening of her reelection campaign office in Juneau, Alaska, on Thursday, Aug. 11, 2022. Murkowski said she expects to be among the candidates who will advance from the Aug. 16, 2022, U.S. Senate primary in Alaska. Under a system approved by voters and being used in Alaska for the first time this year, the top four vote-getters in the primary, regardless of party affiliation, will advance to the November general election, in which ranked voting will be used. (AP Photo/Becky Bohrer) Alaska U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, center, is shown at the grand opening of her reelection campaign office in Juneau, Alaska, on Thursday, Aug. 11, 2022. Murkowski said she expects to be among the candidates who will advance from the Aug. 16, 2022, U.S. Senate primary in Alaska. Under a system approved by voters and being used in Alaska for the first time this year, the top four vote-getters in the primary, regardless of party affiliation, will advance to the November general election, in which ranked voting will be used. (AP Photo/Becky Bohrer)

By BECKY BOHRER / Associated Press 6 min read

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – They hail from their states’ most prominent Republican families. They have been among the GOP’s sharpest critics of former President Donald Trump. And after the Jan. 6 insurrection, they supported his impeachment.

But for all their similarities, the political fortunes of U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming are poised to diverge on Tuesday when they’re each on the ballot in closely watched primary elections.

Cheney faces daunting prospects in her effort to fend off the Trump-backed Harriet Hageman, increasingly looking at a life beyond Capitol Hill that could include a possible presidential campaign. Murkowski, however, is expected to advance from her primary and is already planning to compete in the November general election.

The anticipated outcomes at least partially stem from the nuanced politics of each state. Wyoming is a Republican stronghold, delivering Trump his strongest victory of any state in the 2020 campaign. Alaska, meanwhile, has a history of rewarding candidates with an independent streak.

But Murkowski enjoys an additional advantage in the way elections are being conducted in Alaska this year. Winner-take-all party primaries, like the one Cheney is facing, have been replaced by a voter-approved process in which all candidates are listed together. The four who get the most votes, regardless of party affiliation, advance to the general election in which ranked voting will be used.