Sen. Lisa Murkowski, the centrist Republican from Alaska who has frequently bucked the party, revealed she’s considering ditching the GOP.
Ms. Murkowski has previously said she won’t vote for President Biden or former President Donald Trump, and in an interview that aired Sunday on CNN’s “Inside Politics,” she expressed a wish for Republicans to have a “nominee that I could get behind.”
When asked whether she was thinking about becoming an independent, she responded: “Oh, I think I’m very independent-minded. I just regret that our party is seemingly becoming a party of Donald Trump.”
Ms. Murkowski didn’t rule out the notion of becoming an independent and caucusing with Republicans, similar to how independent Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Angus King of Maine and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona caucus with Democrats.
“I am navigating my way through some very interesting political times,” she said. “Let’s just leave it at that.”
Ms. Murkowski actually won her second full term as a senator as an independent.
She was defeated in the 2010 Republican primary by Tea Party favorite Joe Miller, but then mounted a write-in campaign in November that bested both Mr. Miller and Democratic nominee Scott McAdams.