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?

[Pollster]

McConnell supports incumbents who pay their dues to the NRSC (which Murkowski does) and who support him as leader (which Murkowski does) against challengers who oppose him (which Tshibaka does).

Occam's razor.

[Shaula🏳️‍⚧️]

Mitch spent tens of millions on the race just because Tshibaka didnt like him. He also did the same in the AL primary in a Trump+30 state.
Tshibaka only lost by 6%, it was definitely winnable for her.
If Mitch spent the money he spent against Republicans against CCM, Laxalt would be a Senator rn.

Even if Mitch wanted to support Murk to stop her from leaving the party, why spend millions on her? And behind the scenes it was seen as a competitive race (they spent according to what internal polls showed), why would he spend tens of millions if there was "no way Tshibaka would win" (which isn't even true).

[MarkD]

McConnell supports incumbents who pay their dues to the NRSC (which Murkowski does) and who support him as leader (which Murkowski does) against challengers who oppose him (which Tshibaka does).

Occam's razor.

The fact that she supports McConnell for Majority Leader is a major reason why I would not want to vote for her.  I especially would vote, in the primary, for someone else who was neither R nor D, such as, last year, I would have voted for Libertarian Sean Thorne or one of the Independent candidates. Since none of them ended up in the top four for the general election, I might have abstained from voting in the general at all.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Murkowski is well in line with where Alaska as a whole rests on many issues. Whatever Mitch's intentions were, it was smart for him to back Murkowski...a durable Senate majority relies on having moderates from competitive areas in your caucus.