- George W. Bush maxed out his political donations by giving to campaigns for Cheney and Murkowski.
- Both supported impeaching Trump over the insurrection and now face Trump-backed primary challengers.
Former President George W. Bush gave the maximum allowed political contributions to Wyoming Rep.
New disclosures filed with the Federal Election Commission said Bush gave Cheney $5,800 on October 28 for both the general and primary elections. On December 31, he also gave Murkowski $2,900 for her primary. The FEC sets limits on political contributions.
Cheney, the daughter of Bush's own vice president, Dick Cheney, and an outspoken Trump critic, now serves as the lead Republican on the House Select Committee investigating January 6. She's set to face off against Harriet Hageman, a former RNC official who has been endorsed by Trump, in an August primary. Cheney has outraised Hageman by more than four to one — $2 million for Cheney versus $440,00 for Hageman — FEC disclosures showed.
In Alaska, Murkowski faces Kelly Tshibaka, a former commissioner of the Alaska Department of Administration. Given her relatively moderate voting record, Murkowski has long been vulnerable to primary challenges, and she waged a successful write-in campaign in 2010 after losing that year's Republican primary.
Tshibaka is one of two GOP senate candidates — the other being the scandal-plagued former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens — who's called for Sen. Mitch McConnell to lose his place atop the Senate Republican Caucus.
Cheney was one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump over inciting an insurrection on January 6, while Murkowski was one of seven Republican senators who voted to convict him.
FEC records indicated that Bush didn't make any other political contributions in 2021 before October.
In addition to these personal contributions, Bush held a fundraiser for Cheney in Dallas last fall, and he has repeatedly condemned the attacks on January 6. On the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks, Bush compared domestic right-wing extremists to the 9/11 perpetrators.
"There is little cultural overlap between violent extremists abroad and violent extremists at home," Bush said during a speech in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. "But in their disdain for pluralism, in their disregard for human life, in their determination to defile national symbols, they are children of the same foul spirit. And it is our continuing duty to confront them."