BREAKING – Senator Lisa Murkowski says she is open to leaving the GOP, becoming an independent, and voting alongside Democrats if they manage to pick up three senate seats.
Reporter: “Say Democrats win three seats in the next midterm election in the Senate, and they say, ‘We’re gonna let you pass bills that benefit Alaskans if you caucus with us. You don’t have to become a Democrat, you can be an independent, but if you caucus with us and provide the sort of fourth vote that we need to get from where we are now and you can pass legislation that helps Alaskans, would you do it?'”
Senator Lisa Murkowski: “It’s an interesting hypothetical. You’ve started off with the right – the hook here is if this would help Alaskans because, at the end of the day, that’s… that’s my primary goal. I have to figure out how I can be most effective for the people that I serve. That’s why I’m going to continue to do a really hard job because I want to try to help people. My problem with your hypothetical is that as challenged as I think we may be on the Republican side I don’t see the Democrats being much better and they’ve got not only their share of problems but, quite honestly, there’s… they’ve got some policies that I just inherently disagree with. One of the things that I thought was interesting in the book when we’re writing it was this whole effort prior to me deciding that I was going to launch the write-in. People were looking at what happened after the primary and they said, ‘The only way – the only way that you’re going to retain this seat is if you… if you basically have your name on the ballot and the only way to do that is to basically carry the flag of the Libertarian Party because that was the only party outside of the Republicans and Democrats.’ And so, they said, ‘Basically, can you be – basically, can you be a Libertarian for a day to get elected?’ And they dangled that in front of me and all of the people that I was talking to said, ‘This is, of course, what you have to do.’ And I said, ‘I can’t do that. I can’t be somebody that I’m not. I can’t… I can’t now say I want this job so much that I’m going to pretend to be somebody that I’m not. That’s not who I am.'”
Reporter: “But I guess the question is, you know, you wouldn’t become a Democrat, right? In this situation, you would be independent. And the next time Republicans are close to a majority, you could caucus with them. But I guess I’m more asked, is there a world in which by becoming unaligned or independent you could help Alaskans that you consider it?”
Senator Lisa Murkowski: “There may be that possibility. And let me put it into context from where I’m from. In Alaska right now, our Legislature is governed by coalition. In the Senate, I think it’s… what is it? Twelve – what’s the makeup in the Senate? 14-6 and 21-19 in the House and in the Senate. We got a small legislature. But coalitions in both bodies. And this is one of the things that I think is good and healthy for us and I think actually is one of the reasons why people are… are not surprised that I am… I don’t neatly toe the line with just party initiatives because we’ve kind of embraced a governing style that says, if you’ve got good ideas and you can… you can work with… with her over there, it doesn’t… it doesn’t make any difference if you’re Republican or Democrat. We can govern together for the good of the state. And so, it’s – it is a coalition government. It’s not a Republican majority or a Democrat majority; it is a coalition government.”
Reporter: “So, if Democrats won three seats in the next election and offered you ways to pass bills that benefit Alaskans if you caucused with them, you’d consider it?”
Senator Lisa Murkowski: “If we’re talking about some kind of a coalition, that’s something that, again, is not foreign to Alaskans. Is it foreign to our operations in the Senate? Yeah. Is it foreign in other governing bodies? You look at the makeup in so many other… other countries. So, I’m evading your answer, of course, because it is so supremely hypothetical. But you can tell that the construct that we’re working with right now I don’t think is the best construct.”
Reporter: “But it sounds like you’re saying yes. Is there some openness to it?”
Senator Lisa Murkowski: “There is some openness to exploring something different than this status quo. How’s that?”