Lisa Murkowski leaves open possibility of leaving Republican Party – Washington Examiner

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) has vowed not to support former president Donald Trump, and now is leaving open the possibility of leaving the Republican Party entirely.

Murkowski was one of seven GOPers who voted to convict Trump at his second impeachment trial, but he won’t be getting her vote at the ballot box this fall.

“I wish that as Republicans, we had … a nominee that I could get behind,” Murkowski told CNN. “I certainly can’t get behind Donald Trump.”

She told the outlet she “absolutely” would not vote for Trump, and left open the possibility that she could leave the GOP.

“Oh, I think I’m very independent-minded,” she said, adding later, “I just regret that our party is seemingly becoming a party of Donald Trump.”

Murkowski has been in the Senate since 2002 — she was originally appointed by her father, then-governor Frank Murkowski — and won her latest reelection in 2022 after beating a Trump-backed primary challenger. That means she won’t face reelection again until 2028, the year of the next presidential election.

Trump won Alaska in 2020 with 53% of the vote to President Joe Biden‘s 43%, and bested former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley during this year’s Alaska Republican primary, taking nearly 88% of the vote.

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