Burr noncommittal on challenging Murkowski to lead energy panel

Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) was noncommittal Tuesday when asked whether he would challenge Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) to lead Republicans on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee in the next Congress.
 
“I don’t speculate on what might happen … we’ve got five openings on the committee,” Burr said.
 
Burr said he has not received any assurances yet from Senate GOP leaders that he would receive the leadership post.
 
“I think, one, you gotta wait for Alaska to be settled; two, you gotta wait for our conference to caucus,” Burr said. “We don’t know which new members are going to be on the committee and all of that can influence the potential outcome.”

Republicans on the panel are in charge of electing their own leadership, though it’s not unusual for them to get guidance from caucus leaders. Energy and Natural Resources Republicans agreed in September to replace Murkowski with Burr on an interim basis after Murkowski lost her Republican primary to Joe Miller.
 
But the full Senate GOP caucus declined to act on that recommendation.
 
Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) — a member of the panel this Congress — said the discussions in September “were around it being an interim chairman until we know what would happen.”
 
“We’ll see what the election holds,” he added. “If she were to come back, I can’t imagine her being challenged.”
 
Murkowski is closing in on an improbable victory in her write-in candidacy. She officially took the lead over Miller in the vote tally on Monday. Alaska state officials have counted the majority of the more than 102,000 write-in ballots, with more than 92,000 of those going to Murkowski, according to the Anchorage Daily News. Miller received 90,458 votes. Several thousand write-in ballots have yet to be counted. Miller might challenge the final results in court.
 
Murkowski on Monday said she should continue to lead Republicans on the panel if she wins, noting that she did not change her party affiliation and should not lose any of her seniority.
 
Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) — who argued at a closed-door Republican caucus meeting in September that Murkowski should be removed from her leadership post after she waged a write-in candidacy against Miller and Democrat Scott McAdams — suggested Tuesday he would not make a case one way or another if she were to win.
 
“That’ll be up to the leadership,” he said. “If she comes back we’re going to welcome her as a fellow Republican, and I’ll congratulate her."
 
DeMint in September argued that Murkowski should be replaced by Burr — who was also up for reelection this year — in order to help Miller’s campaign. “The only argument I ever made is we need to support our nominee and our nominee is Joe Miller,” DeMint said Tuesday.
 
“Of course I was disappointed in the process,” he added. “If we start running against people who beat us in the primaries we kind of undermine the whole primary process.”