The Alaska Republican is facing a difficult re-election race in which she is under attack by former President Donald J. Trump and the right. Could a vote for President Biden’s nominee save her?
When President Biden nominated Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to a prestigious appeals court last year, Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, a centrist known for her willingness to break with her party, was one of only three Republicans to vote to confirm her. Now Ms. Murkowski, who is in a challenging re-election race in the state she has represented for two decades, faces a difficult political predicament as she weighs whether to support Judge Jackson’s confirmation to the Supreme Court, joining Democrats in backing the first Black woman to serve there. The two other Republicans who supported Judge Jackson for her current post have come down on opposite sides of the question. Senator Susan Collins of Maine said on Wednesday that she would vote to confirm Judge Jackson, calling her qualified and experienced. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said on Thursday that he would oppose the judge, calling her a liberal judicial activist. That leaves Ms. Murkowski, who says she is still undecided, and who is among a small but dwindling group of Republicans whom the White House regards as prime targets to support Judge Jackson. “I know that others have already made their decisions; that’s good for them,” Ms. Murkowski told reporters on Wednesday, hours after Ms. Collins announced her position. The Alaskan indicated that she was not close to a decision ahead of a vote that Democrats are planning for late next week, and that she still intended to “get more into my process.” Ms. Murkowski’s process is known to be unpredictable, and this year it involves some tricky political calculations. The three-term senator has the distinction of being the only Senate Republican who voted to convict former President Donald J. Trump in his second impeachment trial who is also facing voters this year. Back home in Alaska, she is confronting a feisty challenger on her right who has been endorsed by Mr. Trump. A “no” vote on Judge Jackson could shore up her standing with conservatives who may have been alienated when she broke with the former president. But new election rules in Alaska have scrambled the political calculus. For the first time, candidates will compete in an open primary regardless of party, and the four top vote-getters will advance to the general election, where voters will rank them to determine a winner. The system gives candidates an incentive to appeal to the broadest possible constituency in both parties, rather than their own party’s narrow set of core supporters. For Ms. Murkowski, a vote to confirm Judge Jackson could potentially help her cobble together a coalition of centrist Republicans, independents and Democrats to make up for those on the right who may have abandoned her because of her frequent defections from the party line, and from Mr.
