Republican U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska has crossed party lines one week before Election Day, endorsing Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins for governor on Tuesday, October 27 — a rare move by a sitting Republican senator against a field that includes a candidate backed by President Donald Trump.
Source: Alaska's News Source
“Our future is too important to be hamstrung by partisan divisions,” Murkowski said in a statement released through the Kreiss-Tomkins campaign. “I encourage Alaskans of every political stripe, whether Republicans, independents, or Democrats, to take a close look at Jonathan and Zac. Alaska needs leaders who will put our state first, and I'm proud to support them.”
Source: Alaska's News Source
In an interview with Anchorage station KTUU, Alaska's News Source, she added: “JKT is a young Alaskan with a view and a perspective that I think Alaska needs right now — a freshness of energy, a commonsense guy who has a known ability to be working together.” She said she believes the three Republican candidates on the ballot are too partisan.
Source: NBC News via USA News syndication
“We need a governor who's going to work with the Legislature,” Murkowski told KTUU. “That has got to happen for the delegation to be successful back in Washington, D.C.” She also said she has found fault with the outgoing Dunleavy administration, arguing the state left federal money on the table and singling out the Alaska Marine Highway System as one example.
The race she is stepping into
Kreiss-Tomkins, a former state lawmaker from Sitka who served a decade in the Alaska House representing a fairly conservative district, is the lone Democrat in a four-candidate race to succeed term-limited Republican Governor Mike Dunleavy. His Republican rivals are Bernadette Wilson, whom Trump endorsed this month, former Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson and former state Attorney General Treg Taylor.
Source: NBC News via USA News syndication
A September New York Times and Siena poll cited by Alaska's News Source put Kreiss-Tomkins at about 40 percent among likely voters, ahead of Wilson at 20 percent, Bronson at 15 percent and Taylor at 11 percent. The NBC News Decision Desk rates the race as leaning Democratic — notable in a state Trump won in 2016, 2020 and 2024.
Source: QNC News
The fight with Trump behind it
The endorsement landed three days after Trump called Murkowski “a disgrace to Alaska and our country,” according to Alaska's News Source, and days after she publicly criticised a Trump administration lawsuit against Alaska election officials over a similarly named Senate candidate appearing on the ballot. “Alaskans don't need any help voting for their preferred candidates,” she wrote on X. Trump responded on social media by calling her the “Republicans' Worst Senator, by far,” NBC News reported.
Source: NBC News via USA News syndication
Murkowski is one of Trump's more vocal critics among Senate Republicans, and she is not up for reelection herself until 2028 — which limits the immediate personal electoral cost of breaking with her party in this race.
Source: NBC News via USA News syndication
Republican rivals hit back
Wilson dismissed the endorsement, saying Murkowski “abandoned Alaska values a long time ago” and calling Kreiss-Tomkins “Just Keep Taxing” JKT, arguing he supports an income tax and does not support a full Permanent Fund dividend. At a September forum, Kreiss-Tomkins had proposed applying the corporate income tax consistently across major oil producers, taxing online sales and discussing broader-based revenue with the Legislature, while calling for a dividend that does not overdraw the Permanent Fund.
Source: Alaska's News Source
Treg Taylor wrote that it was “particularly disappointing” to see Murkowski cross party lines, saying Alaskans deserve leadership that prioritises fiscal responsibility over additional taxation. Dave Bronson was cooler: Murkowski is “entitled to endorse whoever she chooses, just as President Trump is,” he said, adding that his loyalty “remains with the people of Alaska not any political figure or endorsement.”
Source: Alaska's News Source
Background: a senator who has done this before
Cross-party endorsements are not new for Murkowski. She endorsed Democrat Mary Peltola for the U.S. House in 2022 and 2024, and in January she endorsed fellow Republican Senator Dan Sullivan for reelection — the seat Peltola is now challenging. In 2010 Murkowski lost the Republican primary and then won the general election as a write-in candidate; in 2022 she won reelection under ranked-choice voting over Republican Kelly Tshibaka.
Source: Alaska's News Source
The campaign also listed her alongside other recent Republican and independent supporters, including former legislators Jesse Sumner, Gary Wilken, Rick Halford and Lesil McGuire, and former governors Frank Murkowski — the senator's father — and Bill Walker. Kreiss-Tomkins has promised a cabinet that includes Republicans and independents alongside Democrats and told KTUU: “I have a lot of respect for Lisa, her integrity. I'm very grateful that she wanted to step up and be a part of the coalition that we're building.”
Source: Alaska's News Source
What happens next
Early voting began on October 19. On November 3, Alaska voters will rank the four candidates under the state's ranked-choice system and will also decide Ballot Measure 2, which would repeal ranked-choice voting itself — the very system that helped return Murkowski to the Senate in 2022. The winner in Juneau will control the Permanent Fund dividend debate, oil-revenue policy, state roads and the Marine Highway ferries that coastal communities depend on, which is why a single endorsement a week out is being watched far beyond Alaska as a test of how far anti-partisan, ranked-choice politics can go in a Trump-era Republican state.
Source: Alaska's News Source
What is solid
- Murkowski endorsed Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins for Alaska governor on Tuesday, October 27, in a campaign statement and a KTUU interview.
- The race is a four-candidate ranked-choice contest to succeed term-limited Gov. Mike Dunleavy, with voting ending November 3.
What is only claimed
- Wilson's claims that Kreiss-Tomkins supports an income tax and opposes a full dividend are campaign characterisations; his stated forum positions were on corporate tax consistency, online-sales tax and a dividend that does not overdraw the Permanent Fund.