In an age where political divisions seem only to widen, incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski seeks to remain firmly in the middle. “That’s where I have to be because that’s who I am.” (Last in a series on Alaska's U.S. Senate candidates)
Representatives from far-right activist group Project Veritas question and record Sen. Lisa Murkowski during an appearance in Anchorage on Aug. 9. Men holding a U.S. flag and a Donald Trump flag watch as Sen.
Lisa Murkowski speaks with motorists at an Americans for Prosperity-hosted event to sell gas at a reduced price at Big Mike's Tesoro gas station on Jewel Lake Road on Aug. 9. Murkowski is still a Republican, and at a recent candidate forum she said she had never considered leaving her party. But in a September interview, she said it has become increasingly difficult to work across party lines. “We do it now, but it just seems that the partisan nature of the institution has just intensified and I think that makes it more challenging because it makes it harder to get to the solutions and it just takes longer,” Murkowski said. She says “both parties are equally guilty” for the rancor. “Just depends who’s in the majority, who’s in the minority,” she said. When she worked with 15 colleagues in the Senate on an election reform initiative following the Capitol insurrection, she said Democratic Senate leadership discouraged the effort. “They’re discouraging you from solving the problem because right now, that was a winning message for the Democrats to say that Republicans don’t want fair elections,” Murkowski said. A framed photo showing Sen. Lisa Murkowski with Rep. Don Young and Sen. Mark Begich awaits display in Murkowski's Washington, D.C., office on Sept. 15. On the issue of abortion, too, Murkowski said she voted against a Democrat-backed bill to federally protect abortion access because it did not allow for conscientious objection. Murkowski and Sen. Susan Collins, the Maine Republican who has often been a centrist ally, have been the only two members of their party open to discussing a bill to protect the procedure in the wake of a Supreme Court decision removing protections for abortion access at the federal level. “Do you think that there was one effort to try to advance that with input from either Sen. Collins or myself? No, because the message that they wanted to push across was that only Democrats care about women and Republicans don’t,” Murkowski said. Then, she added that Republicans “do the exact same thing.”Sen. Lisa Murkowsk talks about the Mother Brown Bear house post in her Washington, D.C., office on Sept. 15. The post, carved by Israel Shotridge, was once in the office of her father, Sen. Frank Murkowski. Both of Murkowski’s challengers in the 2022 election have hinged their candidacies on questioning Murkowski’s 20-year record. Trump-backed Republican Tshibaka says Murkowski enables Biden’s “extreme” agenda — referring to her votes in favor of key Biden nominees and the federal infrastructure bill that includes many of Biden’s legislative priorities. Chesbro, the Democrat in the race, has criticized the sitting senator’s positions on abortion access, gun control and, more broadly, her continued association with a party that has become synonymous with Trump’s ad hominem attacks. In her bid to extend her tenure, Murkowski benefits from a new voting system designed and advocated for by her supporters. The new rules — adopted narrowly by voters in 2020 — eliminated the closed party primaries that led her to mount a write-in campaign in 2010, after losing the Republican primary to tea party Republican Joe Miller. That year, Murkowski was aided by a broad coalition of supporters, including Alaska Natives, teachers and fishermen. It’s similar to the one she is attracting this year. While political action committees have spent millions on ads attacking Tshibaka, Murkowski’s message has focused on herself. “Bipartisanship” is a word that comes up in her campaign ads. Her endorsements include Alaska’s largest labor organization and the state’s largest Native corporations. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, right, talks with banquet staff worker Flora Munoz after a U.S. Senate candidate forum concludes at the Dena'ina Convention Center. Murkowski, Kelly Tshibaka and Pat Chesbro participated in a forum for U.S. Senate candidates at the Alaska Oil and Gas Association conference in Anchorage on Sept. 1. In 2010, the ANCSA Regional Association, which represents the state’s largest Native corporations, was instrumental to Murkowski’s write-in victory, standing up a political action committee to support her. “Hopefully, it was a turning point for recognition of what can happen when we unify and come together and advocate as a collective,” said Kim Reitmeier, now the president of the association. This year, the group again endorsed Murkowski. “We don’t always see eye to eye on everything, but I don’t expect that of anyone,” Reitmeier said. On key issues, Murkowski has delivered for Alaska Native communities and the Native corporations, Reitmeier said, including during the coronavirus pandemic, when several tribes filed lawsuits to prevent coronavirus relief funds from being“She really went to bat for Alaska during that time,” Reitmeier said. “She was consistently an advocate and fought very hard for Alaska and for Alaska Native people.” Among those supporting Murkowski, many say they don’t agree with her all the time. But they agree with her positions enough of the time to think she is right for the state. Sen. Lisa Murkowski talks with North Slope Borough Mayor Harry Brower about the coastal erosion situation in Utqiagvik on June 26. Joelle Hall, president of the Alaska AFL-CIO, the state’s largest labor organization, said the organization’s endorsement of Murkowski stems in large part from her role in the federal infrastructure bill that promises billions to the state in funding for broadband, roads and the marine highway system, among other projects. “If you think about the magnitude and the timing of what she was able to bring back and how many jobs it’s going to create, it’s breathtaking actually,” Hall said. The endorsement came even after Murkowski did not publicly support the PRO Act, a bill touted by labor organizations that say it would protect unions and the right to unionize.The AFL-CIO’s support for Murkowski has not been consistent. In 2010, the organization endorsed her Democratic opponent Scott McAdams. But that year — when Murkowski won a write-in campaign after losing the Republican primary — freed Murkowski to have “a little bit more independent action,” Hall said. Since then, Hall posits, Murkowski has made “less partisan choices, more Alaska choices.” “She’s taking some of those hard votes now, because she can get elected, even if her party is deciding that she is not toeing the party line every day of the week,” Hall said. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, left, considers a question. Murkowski, Kelly Tshibaka, right, and Pat Chesbro participated in a forum for U.S. Senate candidates at the Alaska Oil and Gas Association conference in Anchorage on Sept. 1. Duncan Fields, a commercial fisherman from Kodiak and a district chair of the Alaska Republican Party, said his support for Murkowski stems from her work on issues that matter to him like federal fish policies. “We’ve seen her take tough positions on hard issues, some of which I disagree with I would have done different than our senator did. But the fact that she has stood firm, that she took those positions because she believed in her heart that it was the right thing to do, rather than what the party wanted her to do, or what was politically correct to do — I admire her,” Fields said. One issue where Fields disagrees with Murkowski is abortion access — he opposes it while Murkowski believes women should have access to the procedure. “I haven’t changed how I feel on that issue,” Fields said. “But I believe you embrace a person, and sometimes you agree to disagree.” The Kodiak district has voted to endorse Murkowski — going against the state party’s endorsement of Tshibaka. Now, Fields said he sees himself as a spokesperson for the faction of the Alaska Republican Party that still believes Murkowski merits their support. He said the statewide party’s censure of Murkowski was “misguided” and “shows insecurity.” “I just think that a party should have the elasticity or the grace to allow members of the party to have divergent views on some issues,” Fields said.
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