Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) on Thursday was forced to clarify that she’s "still a Republican" after saying moments earlier that she was "more comfortable" without a party label than with "an identity as a Republican," Politico reported.
The comments from the moderate senator, who has come under fire from MAGA world for her potential opposition to President-elect Donald Trump’s nominees, came during a discussion in Washington hosted by the group No Labels.
“I'm not attached to a label, I'd rather be that ‘no label.’ I'd rather be that person that is just known for trying to do right by the state and the people that I serve, regardless of party, and I'm totally good and comfortable with that,” Murkowski said during the event at the Mayflower Hotel, according to the report.
Murkowski later in the discussion added that she is “still a Republican” who has “never shed my party label,” the report said. “We’ve got a system in the Senate where there are two sides of the aisle, and I have to sit on one side, or I have to sit on the other.”
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Murkowski has served as an Alaska senator since 2003, and has occasionally challenged her party’s positions, Politico noted.
“I don't think I've made any secret of the fact that I'm more of a Ronald Reagan Republican than I am a Trump Republican,” she said Thursday. “And someone said, ‘Well, you aren’t really a Republican at all.’ And I said, ‘You can call me whatever you want to call me.’”
Murkowski pointed out that “it's going to be hard in these next four years” with Trump in the White House because the administration’s “approach is going to be: Everybody toe the line. Everybody line up. We got you here, and if you want to survive, you better be good. Don't get on Santa's naughty list here, because we will primary you.”
She added that she was worried Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) could be targeted by the GOP “for not being good enough” and be primaried, according to the report.
