Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski, a prominent critic of President Trump within the Senate GOP, has suggested that under specific circumstances, she might consider becoming an independent and aligning with Democrats. During a podcast interview, she discussed the possibility of caucusing with Democrats if it could benefit Alaskans. However, she remains skeptical of the Democratic Party, citing disagreements with their policies and acknowledging their own challenges.
Murkowski has clashed with Trump several times since he returned to the White House, including accusing him of ‘walking away from our allies’ after the president’s February fight with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office. In May, she criticized the administration for revoking the temporary protected status of Afghan immigrants, calling the move ‘a historic betrayal.’
In March, Murkowski told reporters her Republican colleagues were ‘afraid’ of going against Trump and then-ally Elon Musk, and said the pair’s work reducing the federal workforce through the Department of Government Efficiency was ‘traumatizing people.’
While Murkowski has expressed openness to exploring something different than the status quo, she cautioned that switching parties likely isn’t the answer. ‘My problem with your hypothetical is that as challenged as I think we may be on the Republican side, I don’t see the Democrats being much better,’ she said. ‘And they’ve got not only their share of problems, but quite honestly, they’ve got some policies that I just inherently disagree with.’
Murkowski’s office was unable to provide a comment for this post before publication.