Lisa Murkowski says she’s ‘not attached’ to the Republican label

Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska reportedly said she is “not attached” to the GOP label and that she would rather have “no label,” and she has the voting record to prove it.

Murkowski’s track record differs from her hard-line Republican colleagues. She often breaks from her party at consequential moments, like voting against confirming Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh in 2018 or being the only GOP senator to vote in favor of convicting now President-elect Donald Trump in 2021.

Murkowski said she felt “more comfortable” with no party label than with “an identity as a Republican.”

‘I don’t think I’ve made any secret of the fact that I’m more of a Ronald Reagan Republican than I am a Trump Republican.’

“I’m not attached to a label,” Murkowski said. “I’d rather be that ‘no label.’ I’d rather be that person that is just known for trying to do right by the state and the people that I serve, regardless of party, and I’m totally good and comfortable with that.”

Although she has been known to buck the party, Murkowski insisted that she is “still a Republican” and that she has “never shed [her] party label.”

“We’ve got a system in the Senate where there are two sides of the aisle, and I have to sit on one side or I have to sit on the other,” Murkowski said.

“I don’t think I’ve made any secret of the fact that I’m more of a Ronald Reagan Republican than I am a Trump Republican,” Murkowski continued. “And someone said, ‘Well, you aren’t really a Republican at all.’ And I said, ‘You can call me whatever you want to call me.'”

Murkowski and Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, and Joni Ernst of Iowa have functioned as a roadblock against Trump, potentially tanking the incoming administration’s Cabinet nominees.

Most recently, Pete Hegseth, who has been nominated to head the Department of Defense, was initially facing an uphill battle for his Senate confirmation thanks to Ernst. Although she went against the grain, the pressure campaign from Trump’s political allies prompted her to cave and support Hegseth.

Since then, many Republican senators have fallen in line and enthusiastically and publicly endorsed Trump’s nominees. Murkowski, however, has remained relatively quiet on the issue.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!