Sen. Lisa Murkowski endorsed the Democratic candidate for governor in her home state of Alaska on Tuesday, snubbing GOP contenders who include a Trump-backed candidate a week out from Election Day.
Murkowski, one of President Donald Trump’s more vocal critics among Senate Republicans, said she is backing Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins over Bernadette Wilson, who has Trump’s endorsement.
“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 in an interview on NBC affiliate KTUU of Anchorage.
Murkowski said she believes the three Republican gubernatorial candidates on the ballot in Alaska, which has ranked choice voting, are 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.”
Kreiss-Tompkins, a former state lawmaker, told KTUU he was grateful for Murkowski’s support.
“I have a lot of respect for Lisa, her integrity. I think she’s worked across the aisle in Congress, which is a quality I really admire and hope to live up to if I’m elected governor,” he said. “And I’m very grateful that she wanted to step up and be a part of the coalition that we’re building.”
He added that the two of them have “had a few conversations” as his campaign has progressed, “and I think she just got to a degree where she felt she was confident in our ticket and our ability to solve problems for Alaska.”
In the race to succeed term-limited GOP Gov. Mike Dunleavy, Kreiss-Tomkins is competing with former Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson, former state Attorney General Treg Taylor and Wilson, whom Trump endorsed this month.
The NBC News Decision Desk rates the governor’s race in Alaska, where Trump won in 2016, 2020 and 2024, as leaning Democratic.
In her comments to KTUU, Murkowski raised concerns that Wilson wouldn’t work at any point with Democrats.
Wilson was dismissive of her endorsement.
“Given that Senator Lisa Murkowski abandoned Alaska values a long time ago, I am not surprised that she has endorsed ‘Just Keep Taxing’ JKT,” she said in a statement, arguing that Kreiss-Tomkins’ “allegiance lies with extreme socialists hellbent on fighting President Trump to the detriment of everyday Alaskans.”
Murkowski, who isn’t up for re-election until 2028, endorsed GOP Sen. Dan S. Sullivan in his re-election bid this year. He is in a competitive race that includes a candidate named Dan J. Sullivan Jr. and Democratic candidate Mary Peltola.
The Trump administration sued election officials in Alaska last week, arguing that Sullivan Jr.’s appearance on the ballot could mislead voters who intended to support Sullivan’s re-election.
Murkowski criticized the move, writing on X, “Alaskans don’t need any help voting for their preferred candidates, and the State of Alaska has already handled this by clearly distinguishing the candidates on this year’s ballot.”
Trump tore into Murkowski the next day on social media, calling her the “Republicans’ Worst Senator, by far.”
