Mitch McConnell was very smart to support Murkowski

[Arizona Iced Tea]

In the 2022 elections, me and other conservatives were angry at Mitch McConnell for not just supporting Murkowski over Tshibaka but spending money re-electing her instead of giving fundraising to other candidates. However, in the last few months I am realized why he did this and need to give him credit where it is due.

The way Alaskan RCV is setup, Murkowski was virtually guaranteed to win regardless. There was no way Tshibaka would have been able to crack 50% on the first round, and thus RCV would have given Murkowski the win. So then why support Murkowski at all if she was going to win? My theory is that Mitch McConnell may have realized that Murkowski's Republican affiliation was starting to crack with the caucus especially with Trump's fury and the Alaska GOP censuring her.

The last thing he wanted was her to win and become an independent, or even potentially caucus with the Dems. He wanted to maintain her loyalty to the party. Supporting Tshibaka would have absolutely alienated Murkowski, and once she won it is possible she may have left the GOP caucus alltogether - why stay with people who fought to get rid of you? Even if he left the race neutral, it doesn't fix whatever cracks may have formed so he used the oppurtunity to ensure her loyalty by fundraising and campaigning for her. Republicans having 49 seats is still better than them having 48, and keeping her in the caucus will make regaining the majority easier even though conservatives may not like her views on specific issues.

This is one of Mitch's 4d chess moments and possibly one of his final ones as Republican leader. Of course, it is possible that maybe he just liked Murkowski as a Senator and wanted to keep her around, but his first priority is to win the Senate control. Why spend millions of dollars on the inevitable if there wasn't a more complex reason behind it, especially when there were 5 other competitive senate races worth investing in?