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Murkowski won’t vote for Trump, declines to rule out leaving GOP

WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 11: Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) speaks during the Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on the Special Diabetes Program on July 11, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images for JDRF) (Jemal Countess)
By Maggie Astor New York Times

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said in an interview released Sunday that she would not vote for former President Donald Trump. She also did not rule out the possibility of leaving the Republican Party.

In the interview, which Murkowski gave to CNN, she said that she would “absolutely” not support Trump in the general election in November. She said that she wished Republicans had nominated someone whom she could vote for, but that she “certainly can’t get behind Donald Trump.”

Asked whether she might leave the party and become an independent, she said that she considered herself “very independent-minded” and added, “I just regret that our party is seemingly becoming a party of Donald Trump.” But she did not give a yes-or-no answer, saying: “I am navigating my way through some very interesting political times. Let’s just leave it at that.”

If Murkowski left the Republican Party, it would be welcome news for Democrats facing a brutally difficult map in the Senate elections in November. Three of their current seats are up for election in red states, and several more are up for election in swing states. There are almost no opportunities to pick up seats currently held by Republicans, and there’s no room for error, given their very narrow majority.

Murkowski, who has served in the Senate for more than 20 years, has long been more moderate than many Republicans. Among other positions that are rare in her party, she supports abortion rights, and she has long been critical of Trump, including in voting to convict him in his impeachment trial after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

But most elected Republicans, even those who denounced Trump after Jan. 6, have fallen back in line behind him as it has become clear that he will be the party’s nominee for president.

Murkowski’s declaration that she will not vote for Trump puts her in the company of a small number of prominent anti-Trump Republicans, among them Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah and former Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming.

“No, no, no, absolutely not,” Romney said last month when asked by CNN whether he would vote for Trump.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.