Alaska Gov. Dunleavy accepts Trump's endorsement on condition that he sends Sen. Murkowski does not endorse in 2022

“Please say thank you to the president for the approval. On the other matter, please tell the president not to worry about anything,” Dunleavy said in a statement referring to Murkowski and distributed by Trump. Trump made Murkowski a top target in next year’s midterm elections after the senator voted earlier this year to convict him in his impeachment trial.

“This is why Mike Dunleavy of Alaska was and will be a great governor,” Trump said in his statement Thursday night.

Dunleavy’s move comes after Trump said in a statement Tuesday, “Alaska needs Mike Dunleavy as governor now more than ever. He has my full and total approval, but this approval is subject to his non-approval from Senator Lisa Murkowski, which has been very bad for Alaska.”

“In other words, if Mike supports her, which is his privilege, my endorsement of him is null and void and has no further power or effect!” Trump added.

Trump has backed Kelly Tshibaka, the former Alaska commissioner, to take on Murkowski in an intra-party battle that has emerged as a proxy battle between the former president, whose political advisers have joined the campaign from Tshibaka, and Senate Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky who supports the Senator.

Murkowski was one of seven Republican senators — and the only one to run for reelection in 2022 — who broke party lines by joining Democrats in voting to convict Trump for inciting the US Capitol insurgency. the US on January 6.

In a sign of how many state parties have gotten behind Trump, Alaska’s GOP censored Murkowski for her conviction vote, which grabbed Tshibaka.

But Murkowski, who ran a successful campaign in 2010 after losing the GOP primary, shot back when she announced in November that she intended to run for re-election. “In this election, less than 48 outsiders will try to get the Alaska Senate seat for their partisan agendas. They don’t understand our state and frankly, they don’t care about your future. My commitment to Alaska is the same I made during my first campaign.”

Murkowski could benefit from a new system in the state in 2022 where candidates compete in an impartial primary and the top four finishers advance to the general election. The winner is then determined by ranked choice.

Dunleavy won the governor’s race in 2018 and will run for a second term next year.

“Mike Dunleavy has been a strong and consistent conservative since his time in the Alaska State Senate. I was proud to support his first run for governor, and I’m also proud to support his re-election,” Trump said in a statement. his statement on Tuesday. “From his handling of the virus, his support for the Constitution — including the Second and Tenth Amendments — which takes advantage of all the opportunities Alaska has to offer, and his strong opposition to the Biden liberal administration’s attempt to hurt our great country. to do.”

This story and headline were updated with a Thursday statement from Dunleavy.

Manu Raju and Alex Rogers of DailyExpertNews contributed to this report.