Murkowski Endorses Democrat Kreiss-Tomkins for Alaska Governor

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican, endorsed Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins for governor of Alaska on Tuesday, a week before Election Day. NBC News reported that the move snubs the GOP field, which includes Bernadette Wilson, the candidate endorsed by President Donald Trump.

“JKT is a young Alaskan with a view and a perspective that I think Alaska needs right now,” Murkowski told Alaska’s News Source, the NBC affiliate KTUU in Anchorage. In an interview quoted by NBC, she called him “a commonsense guy who has a known ability to be working together.” She said she considers the three Republicans on the ballot too partisan. “We need a governor who’s going to work with the Legislature,” she said. “That has got to happen for the delegation to be successful back in Washington, D.C.”

Murkowski also criticized the administration of outgoing Gov. Mike Dunleavy, who is term-limited. “I have found fault with the Dunleavy administration,” she told KTUU, saying the state had left federal money on the table and pointing specifically to the Alaska Marine Highway System.

Kreiss-Tomkins, a former state lawmaker from Sitka, told KTUU he was grateful for her support. “I have a lot of respect for Lisa, her integrity,” he said, adding that the two had “had a few conversations” during the campaign and that she became confident in his ticket and “our ability to solve problems for Alaska.”

The race to succeed Dunleavy includes former Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson, former state Attorney General Treg Taylor and Wilson, whom Trump endorsed on Oct. 13, hours before a rally in Wasilla, according to Alaska’s News Source. Alaska uses ranked-choice voting, which lets voters rank candidates and can send a close race to later rounds of counting. NBC’s Decision Desk rates the governor’s race as leaning Democratic, though Trump carried Alaska in 2016, 2020 and 2024.

The endorsement fits a long pattern. Murkowski has repeatedly broken with her party; Alaska’s News Source noted she previously endorsed Democrat Mary Peltola for the House, a race Peltola lost to Rep. Nick Begich in 2024, and that she did not vote to confirm Justice Brett Kavanaugh in 2018. She has been a frequent target of Trump since his first term, and the outlet reported that his criticism has sharpened as Election Day nears. Trump has called her the Republicans’ “Worst Senator, by far” and a “DISGRACE to Alaska and our Country” on Truth Social, and has attacked ranked-choice voting as a “DEMOCRAT SCAM.”

Murkowski has defended her independence. She acknowledged she has “not always been on the Alaska Republican Party’s good list” but said, “My directive is to serve the people of the state of Alaska,” which she described as including Republicans, Democrats, independents and people with no party.

Republicans can fairly argue that a sitting GOP senator backing a Democrat over a Trump-endorsed Republican splits their vote in a state the party has carried in every recent presidential race. With ranked-choice counting, how the three Republican candidates’ supporters rank their choices could decide the outcome.