Crossing President Donald Trump is the ultimate political taboo for Republican lawmakers. That is, unless you are Sen. Lisa Murkowski.
Trump has backed primary challenges to his detractors. He has maligned his opponents on social media. He has revoked funding in states where politicians dare to defy him. Revenge was a centerpiece of his 2024 campaign. The political environment has become so toxic for Trump’s Republican critics that they are almost entirely extinct — or muzzled — in the halls of Congress.
But Murkowski, a 20-year veteran of the Senate — has made no secret of her distaste for Trump and his agenda. The Alaska Republican has been so outspoken with her concerns that she told a group of Alaskan nonprofit leaders recently she is often “very anxious” about using her voice because “retaliation is real.” But that hasn’t stopped her. This term alone, she opposed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s confirmation, saying he demonstrated a “lack of judgement that is unbecoming.” She’s called certain DOGE operations “unlawful.” And, last week, she voted to limit Trump’s tariff authority.
Comments like Murkowski’s have turned other Republicans, like former Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, into outcasts in the party.
Murkowski has not only managed to buck that trend, but to hear her Republican colleagues tell it, her role in the conference is more important than ever. Nearly a dozen GOP senators across the ideological spectrum had kind words about their colleague, and despite their disagreements on Trump, they have little interest in alienating her.
As she sees it, Murkowski has evaded political exile in the Senate by knowing precisely where the lines are with her colleagues, and how not to cross them.
“I have challenged the president a little bit more in some of my public statements than some of my colleagues,” Murkowski told NOTUS in an interview. “That’s me. It’s not them, but I don’t think they hold it against me.”
“If I were to do something, for instance, to say, ‘I’m the only smart one, because I’m speaking up and my other colleagues are not doing anything, and they’re cowards,’ I’m sure I would get backlash,” she said. “And I would deserve to get backlash.”
“Who am I to suggest that they’re not doing their job?” she continued. “Maybe they’re doing it in different ways.”
Senate Republicans had several explanations for why Murkowski — whose vote to convict Trump in 2021 earned her a censure from the Alaska Republican party — is still welcome among their ranks.
Some pointed to the collegiality of the Senate. Others cited the need to stay on the good side of a senator whom they need on tough votes, and for the most part, is aligned with the party on policy and nominees.
“This is nothing new here,” Sen. John Hoeven told NOTUS. “She had the same relationship in the first Trump administration. So I think people pretty much know where she’s coming from and take that into account.”
Sen. Mike Lee — a hard-right firebrand who has gone after Murkowski on social media — described his relationship with her simply: “I like her. She and I get along great.”
“We don’t always vote the same way,” he continued. “But then again, we all have different opinions.”
There’s also, of course, a question of whether — as Murkowski has put it — her “zip-lipped” colleagues are quietly envious and appreciative of her vocal criticism of the White House.
Without naming names, Murkowski said her colleagues are quietly cajoling the Trump administration in ways so “you don’t see anything in print.” She said they’re having conversations with cabinet secretaries and several have direct lines to the president. That tracks with reporting that lawmakers having Elon Musk’s cell number has proven useful to circumvent DOGE cuts to their states.
For her fears of retaliation, Murkowski could not point to any specific action from the administration she thought was targeted at her. Trump has made no secret of his disdain for Murkowski, funding a primary challenger against her in 2022 and visiting her state to attack her as “a piece of garbage.” But she was emphatic that those broadsides hadn’t impacted her work in the Senate.
“I know that there is risk in being more direct about criticism of certain policies,” Murkowski said. “But that needs to be balanced against not saying anything at all.”
Still, Murkowski has not been iced out by Trump’s cabinet. On Thursday morning, she spoke to the Forest Service’s chief, Tom Schultz, for almost two hours. She said she is on a texting basis with Interior Secretary Doug Burgum. She’s met personally with Lee Zeldin, the Environmental Protection Agency’s administrator, as well as Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner. She discussed in a recent Alaska Public Media interview that she raised concerns about deep cuts to the AmeriCorps program in the state directly to the White House’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles.
It’s relationships like these that have kept Murkowski relevant despite the changing political tides. It also doesn’t hurt that she has particularly powerful committee assignments as chair of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee and a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Though her anti-Trump bona fides win her points with Democrats — Sen. Brian Schatz called her “one of the most fundamentally decent people that I’ve known in politics” — her Republican colleagues are eager to keep working with her despite her reputation among the MAGA set.
“It’s always a shirts-and-skins game between Republicans and Democrats,” Sen. Mike Rounds told NOTUS. “I don’t think people realize that in the Senate, that’s not the way it really works.”
Murkowski has also been busy with DOGE — and pushing back on cuts from the Musk-led project. DOGE has had a significant presence in Alaska, as it’s one of the states that receives the most federal dollars. For example, DOGE attempted (unsuccessfully) to shutter volcano observatory facilities in the state, as NOTUS has reported. And to great frustration to Murkowski, the president changed the name of Denali — the tallest mountain in the country — to Mt. McKinley. (She’s introduced legislation to change the name back to its Athabascan origins.)
But there are times where Trump has done things Murkowski has celebrated, like backing energy policies she sees as beneficial. The delegation cheered a Day 1 executive order called “Unleashing Alaska’s Extraordinary Resource Potential” and Trump’s support for a liquified natural gas pipeline in the state.
Sen. Dan Sullivan refrained from commenting specifically on his fellow Alaska senator but says he hasn’t noticed any backlash towards Alaska.
“I haven’t noticed a thing,” he told NOTUS. “The Trump administration has done incredible things for Alaska, and I’m working it every day for my state — much better than the Biden administration.” Sullivan added that “cabinet secretaries” were actively meeting with his constituents visiting D.C.
While there are obvious potential downsides in criticizing Trump, there’s a question of how much can be gained through loyalty alone. Given Murkowski’s almost 10 years of breaking with Trump, it’s unclear if there would be an upside if she suddenly changed her tune. Though Trump has rewarded so-called “converts” to the MAGA ideology like Vice President JD Vance, other loyalists haven’t reaped the same benefits.
“I voted with him,” Sen. Cynthia Lummis said of Trump. “Hasn’t changed my relationship with him. I don’t call him all the time. He doesn’t call me.”
“Her relationship with him is what it is, and it hasn’t changed, and it’s natural,” Lummis told NOTUS of Murkowski. “It doesn’t change our relationship towards her or towards him.”
Murkowski isn’t the only member of the Senate Republican conference who’s spoken out against Trump this term. Sen. Susan Collins has also repeatedly spoken against the president, though as the head of the Appropriations Committee who is up for reelection in 2026, she is under immense pressure to find common ground with her more MAGA-minded colleagues.
And ultimately, Murkowski does vote with the president more often than not. For all the rumors that she would change parties or become an independent, for now, she is still a Republican. She votes for conservative policy and on issues like energy, taxes, guns and more, where there’s little daylight between her and the president.
“She’s very independent, and always has been, and that’s probably a little bit the nature of Alaska” Hoeven said. “And you notice there’s many, many, many times she agrees with the administration, but that doesn’t make news, right? What makes news, of course, is when she disagrees.”
Senate Republicans acknowledge that with a 53-47 majority, and the filibuster still intact, that leaves them little room to isolate anyone who’s willing to be a number.
“I don’t think it reflects on our willingness — certainly not my willingness — to work with her on things that matter,” Sen. Kevin Cramer told NOTUS. “Everything requires 50 or 60, and they all count the same.”
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Riley Rogerson and Ursula Perano are reporters at NOTUS