Sen. Lisa Murkowski crossed party lines again, one week before Election Day. The bigger danger for Alaska conservatives, though, is a divided ballot.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski has done it again. One week before Election Day, Murkowski endorses Kreiss-Tomkins, the lone Democrat in Alaska’s race for governor.
She announced it Tuesday in an interview with KTUU’s Rebecca Palsha. “JKT is a young Alaskan with a view and a perspective that I think Alaska needs right now,” she said.
She also argued that the three Republicans on the ballot are too partisan. “We need a governor who’s going to work with the legislature,” she told KTUU. In a statement released by the Kreiss-Tomkins campaign, she added, “Our future is too important to be hamstrung by partisan divisions.”
On the same day, her father joined in. Former Republican Gov. Frank Murkowski co-signed a letter backing Kreiss-Tomkins. His co-signers were Democrat Tony Knowles and Bill Walker, a former Republican who won the governorship as an independent.
Republicans Answer Back
The Republican candidates responded within hours.
Bernadette Wilson, whom President Trump endorsed Oct. 13, did not mince words. “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, according to NBC News.
In a second statement, Wilson said Alaskans know Kreiss-Tomkins “wants an income tax” and “does not believe the full PFD belongs to the people.”
Former Attorney General Treg Taylor called the move “particularly disappointing.” He added, “Alaskans deserve leadership that protects their PFDs, respects their hard-earned money, and prioritizes fiscal responsibility over additional taxation.”
Meanwhile, former Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson kept it short. Murkowski is “entitled to endorse whoever she chooses, just as President Trump is,” he told KTUU.
Nobody Should Be Surprised
Alaska Public Media called this a “surprise endorsement.” It was not.
Murkowski lost the 2010 Republican primary and kept her seat as a write-in. In 2018, she did not vote to confirm Justice Brett Kavanaugh. In 2021, the Alaska Republican Party’s central committee censured her. It then endorsed her challenger, Kelly Tshibaka. She also backed Democrat Mary Peltola for the U.S. House in 2022 and again in 2024.
To be fair, Murkowski endorsed Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan this year against Peltola. Still, the pattern holds. When the Republican choice is a Trump-aligned conservative, she tends to look elsewhere.
She even acknowledged it Tuesday. She told KTUU she has “not always been on the Alaska Republican Party’s good list.” In the same interview, she said the Dunleavy administration had “left federal money on the table.”
Notably, she faces no voters of her own until 2028.
What the Coverage Left Out
Alaska Public Media’s 250-word story leaned hard on bipartisanship. It said Murkowski is “far from the only elected Republican” backing Kreiss-Tomkins. Yet its examples were former legislators and her own father. It named no other sitting Republican officeholder.
The story also skipped key context. It did not mention Trump’s endorsement of Wilson. It did not quote a single Republican rival. And it said nothing about Kreiss-Tomkins’ record on taxes.
Nor did it mention the feud already underway. On Saturday, Oct. 24, Trump called Murkowski the “Republicans’ Worst Senator, by far” on Truth Social. According to NBC News and Just the News, that post followed her criticism of a Justice Department lawsuit over the U.S. Senate ballot. In other words, it came three days before the endorsement, not in response to it.
The Record Behind the “Bipartisan” Label
Kreiss-Tomkins served a decade in the state House, leaving in 2022. His tax record deserves attention.
In April 2017, the House passed House Bill 115, a statewide income tax, by a vote of 22 to 17. Kreiss-Tomkins voted yes. “I think this is one of the most important votes that I or the other members will ever cast,” he said, according to the Peninsula Clarion. The bill later died in the Senate.
Under that bill, a single Alaskan earning $50,000 would have paid $992.50 a year, the Clarion reported.
In 2021, he led a bipartisan fiscal working group. Its final report called for at least $500 million in new annual revenue, according to the Anchorage Daily News.
On the trail, however, his emphasis has shifted. He now talks mostly about extending the corporate income tax to privately held oil and gas producers such as Hilcorp. He has called himself “bearish” on a statewide sales tax. He also calls a $4,000 dividend “magical thinking.”
Beyond taxes, he said he would have signed House Bill 78. That bill would have restored a defined-benefit pension plan for some public employees. In addition, Planned Parenthood’s advocacy arm has endorsed him.
Voters can weigh all of that. But “bipartisan” describes a style. It does not describe a policy.
The Real Threat: A Divided Right
Here is the uncomfortable truth for Republicans. Murkowski’s endorsement is not the biggest obstacle in this race. The split on the right is.
Consider the numbers. An Alaska Survey Research poll taken Oct. 1 to 3 put Kreiss-Tomkins at 48% of first choices. Wilson had 27%, Bronson 15% and Taylor 10%. Together, the three Republicans drew 52%.
Even so, the same poll had Kreiss-Tomkins beating Wilson 54% to 46% in the final ranked choice round.
Republicans led on first choices, but trailed after the count
Alaska Survey Research poll of likely voters, Oct. 1 to 3, 2026
First choice
Wilson 27%, Bronson 15%, Taylor 10%
Final ranked choice round
Source: Alaska Survey Research, as reported Oct. 3, 2026. Chart: Midpoint News.
A September New York Times/Siena poll showed a similar split. Kreiss-Tomkins had 40%, while the three Republicans combined for 46%.
So how does a candidate with fewer first choices end up ahead? Ranked choice voting. A ballot that ranks only one Republican stops counting once that candidate is eliminated. Wilson herself has said Alaska GOP voters have been unwilling to rank more than one candidate, the Anchorage Daily News reported.
The primary set up this problem. On Aug. 18, Kreiss-Tomkins took 22.5%. Wilson led the Republicans with 10%, followed by Bronson at 8.1% and Taylor at 7.3%. Democrat Tom Begich, who finished second, quickly dropped out and endorsed Kreiss-Tomkins. Republicans did not consolidate.
| Candidate | Party | Aug. 18 primary | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins | D | 22.5% | On Nov. 3 ballot |
| Tom Begich | D | 20.8% | Withdrew, endorsed Kreiss-Tomkins |
| Bernadette Wilson | R | 10% | On Nov. 3 ballot |
| Dave Bronson | R | 8.1% | On Nov. 3 ballot |
| Treg Taylor | R | 7.3% | On Nov. 3 ballot |
Later, Trump urged Bronson and Taylor to step aside. Both refused. Bronson said a deal fell apart when Taylor would not leave too.
Rank the Red
Gov. Mike Dunleavy has declined to pick a favorite. Instead, he told the Wasilla rally crowd, “There are three of them. I need you to vote for each one of them.”
Alaska Family Action, the state’s most prominent pro-life group, gives the same advice: “rank the red.” Likewise, Bronson has urged voters to rank the Republicans one, two, three, “just not JKT.”
That is the path forward. Conservatives who dislike ranked choice voting still have to play by its rules on Nov. 3. Rank Wilson, Bronson and Taylor in any order you like. Just rank all three.
The same ballot also carries Ballot Measure 2. It would repeal ranked choice voting and restore party primaries. A similar repeal failed in 2024 by just 737 votes.
The Bottom Line
Murkowski is free to back whomever she likes. Alaskans are equally free to notice where her loyalties land.
Ultimately, endorsements in Juneau or Washington will not decide this race. Ranked ballots will. If Republicans rank together, the Democrat’s lead may not survive the count.
Sources
- Alaska Public Media, “Murkowski endorses Democrat JKT in Alaska governor’s race,” Oct. 27, 2026
- KTUU / Alaska’s News Source, “Sen. Murkowski endorses Democrat JKT in Alaska’s governor’s race,” Oct. 27, 2026
- Juneau Independent, “Three former governors and Sen. Murkowski endorse JKT over three Republicans on ballot,” Oct. 27, 2026
- NBC News, “GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski endorses Democratic candidate in Alaska governor’s race,” Oct. 27, 2026
- Alaska Beacon, “Murkowski and Murkowski endorse Alaska’s Democratic governor candidate,” Oct. 27, 2026
- Just the News, “Trump calls Murkowski GOP’s ‘worst senator,'” Oct. 25, 2026
- Peninsula Clarion, “House approves income tax,” April 17, 2017
- Anchorage Daily News, “‘Less magical thinking’: Kreiss-Tomkins says Alaska needs new revenue measures,” Oct. 16, 2026
- Alaska Public Media, “Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins pitches himself as a changemaker,” Oct. 20, 2026
- Alaska Beacon, “Alaska gubernatorial candidates participate in first forum since a post-primary ballot shuffle,” Sept. 9, 2026
- Alaska Beacon, “Where do Alaska’s four candidates for governor stand on abortion?” Sept. 22, 2026
- Polling USA on X, Alaska Survey Research results, Oct. 3, 2026
- Anchorage Daily News, “Wilson again calls on her Republican opponents to drop out,” Sept. 18, 2026
- KTUU / Alaska’s News Source, “Wilson spars with Kreiss-Tomkins after urging fellow Republicans to suspend gubernatorial campaigns,” Sept. 22, 2026
- Alaska Public Media, “Bronson will keep campaigning despite Trump’s call to drop out,” Oct. 14, 2026
- Alaska Public Media, “Alaskans to vote on ballot measure that would overhaul state election system,” July 29, 2026
- Axios / The Hill coverage of the 2021 Alaska GOP censure and Tshibaka endorsement
Photos: Kathrine Coonjohn and Ernie Journeys on Unsplash.