Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski has not ruled out leaving the Republican Party and insists she will not vote for Donald Trump in 2024

Senator Lisa Murkowski has not ruled out leaving the Republican Party and becoming an independent, now that the Republican Party is turning against Donald Trump and she is distancing herself.

The centrist Republican senator from Alaska was one of seven who voted for Trump’s second impeachment following the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot. But MAGA attempts during the 2022 midterm elections to unseat Murkowksi as punishment for her voice, were unsuccessful.

Murkowski, who has represented Alaska in the U.S. Senate since 2002, told CNN that she will not vote for Trump in the 2024 presidential election.

“I wish as Republicans we had a candidate that I could get behind,” she said. “I certainly cannot support Donald Trump.”

Both Murkowski and moderate Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine endorsed former U.N. Ambassador and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley in her bid to defeat Trump in the primaries just days before she dropped out.

In Congress, there has been a recent trend of lawmakers turning away from the party they belonged to when originally elected to office. Some have gone completely across the aisle, while others have decided to switch to independent.

When asked if she was considering leaving the Republican Party and becoming an independent, Murkowski told CNN, “Oh, I think I’m very independent-minded.”

“I just think it’s a shame that our party is seemingly becoming a party of Donald Trump,” she added.

“I’m navigating some very interesting political times. Let’s just leave it at that,” she clarified when pressed on whether she planned to switch sides.

Murkowski said she “absolutely” could not support Trump’s third consecutive presidential bid in November and specifically reiterated her position that he incited the riot at the Capitol in the wake of the 2020 presidential election as he tried to seal Joe Biden’s victory to undo.

“What happened on January 6 was … an attempt by people who stormed the building in an attempt to stop the certification of an election,” she noted.

‘It cannot be defended.’

Donald Trump tried to oust Murkowski during his revenge tour against the Republicans who wanted to oust him. Pictured: The former president rallied for Kelly Tshibaka in Anchorage, Alaska in July 2022 in her primary bid against Murkowski

Trump went to Anchorage, Alaska in July 2022 to rally for Kelly Tshibaka, who was challenging Murkowski for her Senate seat.

Tshibaka’s attempt was unsuccessful to unseat the Republican senator, whose rise to the seat was controversial.

Senator Murkowski was first appointed to her seat by her father Frank Murkowski, who had resigned from his position in the Senate to be sworn in as governor of Alaska at the time.

She completed her father’s term in the Senate and was elected to her first full term beginning in January 2005.