WASHINGTON, Sept. 19 (UPI) -- Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, Sunday defended her write-in re-election campaign as standing up for Alaska against out-of-state Tea Party activists.
Murkowski, a longtime veteran of Alaskan politics, said her duty was to represent her state in Washington and not step aside just to accommodate Republican leaders and the Tea Party Express, which she accused of bankrolling her opponent in the recent GOP primary.
Murkowski lost in a surprising race against Joe Miller, who rode the Tea Party anti-incumbent sentiment in the primary race. She has since launched a write-in campaign, which has some analysts pondering a split GOP vote in November.
"I am listening to my constituents," Murkowski said on CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday. "That's what it's all about. It's not trying to make the Republican Party happy. It's trying to respond to the people of the state of Alaska."
Murkowski also questioned her congressional critics. She opined that it was they, not her, who was undercutting the party by glomming on to the Tea Party to support their own standing rather than sticking up for established candidates.
"I don't think that it's particularly helpful to undercut fellow Republicans," she said.
