Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy Set to Challenge Lisa Murkowski in 2028 Senate Race
Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy is primed to announce a 2028 run for U.S. Senate against Sen. Lisa Murkowski, the Republican legislator who repeatedly has clashed with President Donald Trump, according to several sources familiar with the situation or close to the governor.
“He’s not going to quit his term,” a top source close to Dunleavy who used to work with him in Juneau, Alaska, told Fox News Digital of the governor’s long-term plans — as the next Senate race in the Last Frontier falls in 2026 with incumbent Republican Dan Sullivan.
The last governor to resign to run for higher office — 2008 vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin — “never recovered,” the source said.
Dunleavy “cares deeply about and wants Alaska to succeed,” the source said, adding the governor recently quipped that he can’t understand why people would want to “live with all this concrete” in Washington and not in the verdant Arctic as one reason the Pennsylvania-born Republican likes to otherwise avoid the East Coast.
“But he knows that (being in Washington) is the only way to get things done,” the source said, adding that Dunleavy was the second governor to endorse Trump in 2016, and that a top member of the White House staff said he visits more than any other governor despite a 3,500-mile trek.
“He’s not about an ego and pushing himself in front of the cameras. He gets stuff done … He’s not like, ‘please put me on this committee’ or ‘I have to attend this ball’. He doesn’t like those types of things,” the source added.
“Trump has talked to him before about running and wants him to run.”
Dunleavy was notably present at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, when Trump met with Russian President Vladimir Putin Aug. 15.
Despite being a red state, it is an “uphill climb” to get elected governor as a Republican, another source close to the situation told Fox News Digital Wednesday.
Former Gov. Jay Hammond was the last Republican to win reelection there, in 1978. Another Republican, Sean Parnell, who rose to the job after Palin’s 2009 departure, did not technically win reelection during the 2010 cycle that kept him in office.
“A lot of people have mentioned this (race) to him and … I think it is a very viable option for him,” the source said.
“Obviously there are a lot of frustrations with Senator Murkowski,” he said, adding that the disparity in Trump’s relationship between the two Alaskans is “no secret.”
“Governor Dunleavy has been not only a successful governor, but a pretty strong ally for him. So it’s only natural that he’d be hearing that from Alaskans — but also from folks in the broader MAGA movement.”
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Dunleavy, like Murkowski, also has been successful in the state’s ranked-choice voting system — which critics claim has inordinately helped Democrats. Mary Peltola, a Democrat, notably won the seat of the late Republican Rep. Don Young, who helmed the at-large district for decades.
Murkowski also “never faced a challenger like him” who has broad support outside conservative circles, the second source noted.
The governor is very close with Native communities on the North Slope and beyond, where residents in far-flung communities have praised him for his focus on Alaska’s energy development potential and allocation of resources for issues like rural education and infrastructure.
A top Alaska political analyst and pollster agreed.
“Conservatives would welcome an opportunity to unseat Murkowski,” he said in a Thursday interview.
“The fact that (Trump) and Murkowski have had such a strained relationship and Dunleavy and the president having a good relationship is really what has led us to this point in the conversation,” he said.
One of the key factors that will shape the 2028 Senate race is the political landscape in Alaska, where the state’s unique governance structure plays a vital role. Alaska also uniquely swears-in its governors in December — a month earlier than the presidency, Congress and most other state leaders. This timing could have implications for the political calendar and the visibility of Dunleavy’s campaign as he prepares to enter the Senate race later this decade.
Fox News Digital reached out to a representative for Dunleavy as well as a contact listed for Murkowski’s campaign and her Senate office and the White House for comment.