Lisa Murkowski “Open” to Caucusing With Democrats If Senate Goes 50-50

Chief RINO Lisa Murkowski may soon be a former RINO - and not because she’s joining team MAGA.

The Alaska Senator, who recently claimed that everyone in Congress is living in fear of retaliation from Donald Trump (something clearly contradicted by their theater kid antics), is now apparently open to the ultimate act of defiance: caucusing with Democrats.  

Appearing on the show GD Politics with Galen Druke, Murkowski floated caucusing with Senate Democrats, though indicated that she didn’t think Democrats were much better. 

“I would be not being honest with you if I said I’ve never been asked … ‘Why don’t you switch?’ Or people have said: ‘You should switch,’” said, adding that she’s considered switching to the Democrat Party but not that seriously (yet). 

“Have I considered it? Yes, because I’ve been asked the question,” she added

“Do I feel that within my Republican conference, I always feel like I’m right here in my political home? No. There’s some directions and policies that I disagree with,” emphasizing that her ideology overall still more aligns with the GOP.

“As challenged as I think we may be on the Republican side, I don’t see Democrats being much better. They’ve got not only their own share of problems but, quite honestly, they’ve got some policies that I just inherently disagree with,” she said.

There has been a recent trend in senators with reputations for being moderate shedding their party affiliation and becoming independents, such as Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin, though they remained in their party’s caucus. When asked about if she’d be open to becoming one, Murkowski replied that it’s an “interesting hypothetical” that ultimately boils down to if it would help Alaskans. She also pointed out that her state government is run by a bipartisan coalition (the majority coalition in Alaska’s House contains 14 Democrats, 5 Independents, and 2 Republicans, while the Senate is controlled by a coalition of 9 Democrats and 6 Republicans). 

According to GovTrack.us, Murkowski is the second most liberal Republican, only slightly less liberal than Susan Collins (of course, this would also make her one of the most conservative Democrats if she changed her party affiliation). Murkowski has voted with Obama’s position on votes over 72% of the time, and Biden’s position nearly 80% of the time. She also voted against Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination, and later supported Ketanji Brown Jackson. 

Murkowski fended off Trump-backed challenger Kelly Tshibaka in the 2022 Alaskan Senate election. The State uses ranked choice voting, and in the first round Murkowski got 113,495 votes to Ishibaka’s 111,480, with a Democrat earning 27,145 being eliminated. Murkowski won in the second round with 136,330 votes to Tshibaka’s 117,534 votes, meaning that Democrats overwhelmingly ranked Murkowski as their second choice. Murkowski also had the backing of Mitch McConnell and the National Republican Senatorial Committee. 

Matt Palumbo is the author of The Heir, Inside the (Not So) Secret Network of Alex Soros