Alaska’s Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski said Monday she is considering resigning from the GOP and becoming an independent — and would even begin to caucus with Democrats under the right circumstances.
It is Murkowski’s strongest public statement yet about quitting the Republican Party over clashes with President Donald Trump’s base.
“There may be that possibility,” Murkowski hinted to Galen Druke during an interview Tuesday when he asked if she is prepared to resign from the GOP and become independent or unaligned.
Druke pressed the senator four times during the weekend interview about whether she is prepared to break with Republicans, particularly if Democrats gain three Senate seats in the 2026 midterm elections.
When asked how she would respond if Democrats told her “we’re gonna let you pass bills that benefit Alaskans if you caucus with us,” Murkowski replied: “You’ve started off with the right hook here, which is ‘If this would help Alaskans.'”
“In Alaska, we’ve kind of embraced [bipartisanship] as a governing style,” she said, referring to coalitions in both chambers of the state Legislature. “Makes no difference if Republican or Democrat.”
When Druke continued to press, Murkowski reportedly smiled.
“I’m evading your answer, of course, because it is so supremely hypothetical,” she said. “It is not foreign to Alaskans.”
“It sounds like you’re saying yes,” he replied, which Murkowski did not deny.
The longtime senator has repeatedly clashed with Trump and the “America First” wing of the Republican Party since he returned to the White House. She blasted Trump for “walking away from our allies” after his February confrontation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office. In May, she called the administration’s decision to revoke temporary protected status for Afghan immigrants “a historic betrayal.”
Murkowski said in March that her establishment Republican allies were “afraid” of going against Trump and Elon Musk. She complained that their work, which aimed to reduce federal spending through the Department of Government Efficiency, was “traumatizing people.”
“There is some openness to exploring something different than the status quo,” she told Druke. “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.”
The senator survived a 2010 primary loss by mounting a successful write-in campaign and was one of just seven Republican senators who voted to convict Trump during his 2021 impeachment trial. She frequently clashes with her party on abortion and environmental policy, and is no longer welcome at conservative Republican Party events.
Murkowski made similar hints about quitting the GOP in December of 2024, when she said she was “more of a Ronald Reagan … Republican than I am a Trump Republican. And … some would say, well, you’re not really a Republican at all.”
“You can call me whatever you want … I’m not attached to a label. I’d rather be that no label.”
If Democrats gain Senate seats in 2026, Murkowski’s position as a swing vote could prove decisive in determining control of the chamber. A formal resignation from the Republican Party would mark one of the most significant realignments in modern Senate history.
Murkowski remains a Republican but faces reelection in 2028 under Alaska’s ranked-choice voting system, which voters nearly repealed last year by just a few hundred votes.