Murkowski Rules Out Switching to Democratic Party

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) speaks during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing in Washington on June 30, 2020. (Al Drago/AFP via Getty Images)

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) on Friday said she would not switch parties as she revealed she didn’t vote for President Donald Trump.

A longtime moderate who is out of line with some conservative views, Murkowski was a frequent Trump critic who has expressed an openness to convicting him on the recently passed article of impeachment and called for him to resign. Trump remains popular among Republican voters and is considered by some the head of the Republican Party despite his loss in the 2020 election.

“I can be very discouraged at times with things that go on in my own caucus, in my own party,” Murkowski told reporters on Friday, according to Politico. “But I have absolutely no desire to move over to the Democratic side of the aisle. I can’t be somebody that I’m not.”

Murkowski, who is up for reelection in 2022, survived during the 2010 election after losing in the Republican primary by running in the general election anyways and winning the most votes.

“Now, some of the Republicans will say, you are not really one of us. Let’s define: What is the Republican Party nowadays? Now there’s an interview for you. But really, where are we, the Republican Party? Who really exemplifies the heart of the party right now?” Murkowski told reporters in Washington. “In many ways, we are a party that is really struggling to identify.”

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), perhaps the most moderate Democratic senator, also said recently he wouldn’t switch parties.

“I don’t think the Democrats will throw me out. Do you think? I’m not sure. Where are they going to throw me? I’m a good old West Virginia conservative Democrat,” Manchin said on Fox News.