After nearly a quarter century in Washington, D.C., Sen. Lisa Murkowski has little interest in surrendering her U.S. Senate seat to run for governor of Alaska.
In response to a Feb. 8 question from ForbesTV, Alaska’s senior senator said she has been asked to run for governor by fellow Alaskans.
“Would I not consider returning back to the state that I love and working on hard problems and challenges? – Absolutely,” she said, before quickly adding, “But I also feel that the role that I’m playing here in the United States Senate is a particularly important one for our state and for the country. So, um hard decisions, but you got to pick one and I am here and going to continue to serve Alaskans here.”
The 68-year-old Murkowski has held onto her U.S. Senate seat for 24 years – ever since her father, former-U.S. Sen. Frank Murkowski, hand-picked her to fill his vacant seat in 2002. That was the year, the elder Murkowski decided to leave D.C. and run a successful campaign to become Alaska’s governor.
Lisa Murkowski is currently the second most senor GOP woman in the Senate, although she regularly breaks with her fellow Republicans to support Democrats. In 2004 she won her first full term with just 48% of the statewide vote. Six years later, she lost Alaska’s 2010 GOP primary to Tea Party candidate Joe Miller, but later defeated Miller in the general election as a write in candidate.
Murkowski’s current term runs through 2028.
Alaska candidates for governor must file their declaration of candidacy with the Alaska Division of Elections by June 1.
