Murkowski on Trump: I know Alaska ‘better than he does’

WASHINGTON – Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska is brushing back against President Donald Trump, saying she knows her state’s political terrain “better than he does.”

Trump says voters “will never forgive” Murkowski for opposing Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court, and he says the senator will “never recover” politically.

Murkowski, who isn’t up for re-election until 2022, tells reporters that her “barometer is not necessarily what the president says but what the people of Alaska say.”

She acknowledges that some voters are disappointed in her decision, but says that’s unavoidable because Alaskans were split on whether Kavanaugh should be confirmed.

Murkowski got a vote of confidence Wednesday from Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, who told The Associated Press in an interview that “nobody’s going to beat her” in Alaska.