Early life, education, and early career

Murkowski was born in Ketchikan, Alaska, the daughter of Nancy Rena (née Gore) and Frank Murkowski. Her paternal great-grandfather was of Polish descent, and her mother's ancestry is Irish and French Canadian. As a child, she and her family moved around the state with her father's job as a banker.

She earned a B.A. in Economics from Georgetown University in 1980, the same year her father was elected to the U.S. Senate. She is a member of Pi Beta Phi sorority and represented the state of Alaska as the 1980 Cherry Blossom Princess. She received her J.D. in 1985 from Willamette University College of Law, passing the bar exam on the fifth try over the next two years. Then, she was employed as an attorney in the Anchorage District Court Clerk's office (1987-89). From 1989 to 1998, she was an attorney in private practice in Anchorage, Alaska. She also served, from 1990 to 1991, on the Mayor's Task Force for the Homeless.

Alaska House of Representatives

In 1998, Murkowski was elected to the Alaska House of Representatives and reelected in 2000 and 2002. She was named as House Majority Leader for the 2003-2004 legislative session, but resigned before taking office due to her appointment to the U.S. Senate. Murkowski sat on the Alaska Commission on Post Secondary Education and chaired both the Labor and Commerce and the Military and Veterans Affairs Committees. In 1999, she introduced legislation establishing a Joint Armed Services Committee.

U.S. Senate career

Committee assignments

• Committee on Appropriations
  • Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies
  • Subcommittee on Homeland Security
  • Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies (Chairman)
  • Subcommittee on Legislative Branch
  • Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies
• Committee on Energy and Natural Resources (Chairman)
  • As Chairman of the full committee, Murkowski may serve as an ex officio member of all subcommittees.
• Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
  • Subcommittee on Children and Families
  • Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety
• Committee on Indian Affairs

Caucus memberships

• Senate Oceans Caucus (co-chairman)
• Senate Cultural Caucus

Political positions

Since winning re-election, her voting record has become more moderate when compared to her previous years in the Senate. She is generally pro-choice on abortion and supports non-federally funded embryonic stem cell research, although she has cast significant pro-life votes, including ones to ban partial-birth abortions. She is a member of the Republican Majority For Choice, Republicans For Choice, and The Wish List (Women in the Senate and House), a group of pro-choice women Republicans.

Murkowski is a signer of Americans for Tax Reform’s Taxpayer Protection Pledge.

The National Federation of Independent Business named Murkowski a Guardian of Small Business for her "outstanding" voting record on behalf of small business owners.

Affirmative action

Murkowski opposes affirmative action.

Gun control

Murkowski opposes gun control, and was one of 46 Senators to vote against eliminating private firearms sales in April 2013.

Alaska Native issues

Murkowski has helped protect and ensure that health care is delivered by the 100 percent Native American-owned and controlled Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium and a network of tribally operated hospitals and clinics in rural Alaska hubs and villages. Murkowski is an active member of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs and served as Vice Chairman of the Committee during the 110th Congress. She is the Chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and a member of the Committee on Appropriations, and has a continuing role on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. In 2009, she was honored with a Congressional Leadership Award by the National Congress of American Indians. She is the first Alaskan to receive the award.

Healthcare

Murkowski opposed President Barack Obama's health reform legislation; she voted against the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in December 2009, and she voted against the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010. Murkowski has stated numerous times that she would like to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Murkowski voted for H.R. 976, which called for the expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) to provide coverage for additional uninsured children. That bill passed both the House and the Senate, but was vetoed by President George W. Bush. She supports health care reforms in her native state, as well, largely because health care costs for Alaskans are up to 70% higher than costs in the contiguous United States.

Matthew Shepard hate crimes bill

Murkowski was one of five Republican senators who voted with Democrats for the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act.

Energy and environment

Murkowski is currently the chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. She has given her support to efforts to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). For the 109th Congress, Republicans for Environmental Protection, a group dedicated to environmental causes, gave Murkowski a rating of 2%, noting that in 2006, she voted against S.C. Resolution 83, intended to bolster energy security and lower energy-related environmental impacts, against an amendment to S. 728 that would make the Army Corps of Engineers more accountable for the environmental and economic impacts of their projects, for oil drilling in ANWR, for offshore oil and gas drilling.

Murkowski believes that recent technological developments have made drilling safer and more economical.

Murkowski introduced a bill that would block the Environmental Protection Agency from limiting the amount of greenhouse gases that major industries can produce. In a statement, Murkowski said, "We cannot turn a blind eye to the EPA's efforts to impose back-door climate regulations with no input from Congress."

In the wake of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill(BP disaster in the Gulf of Mexico), Murkowski opposed a bill that would have raised the liability cap for oil spills from $75 million to $10 billion. She said that such a large cap would jeopardize various businesses, and that exposing companies to greater risk would make it impossible for smaller companies to compete.

Don't ask don't tell

Murkowski supported the repeal of don't ask, don't tell after consideration of the Department of Defense report. "Our military leaders have made a compelling case that they can successfully implement a repeal of 'don't ask, don't tell'," she said. "It is infinitely preferable for Congress to repeal the law, and allow the service chiefs to develop and execute a new policy, than to invite a court-ordered reversal of the law with no allowance for a military-directed implementation. I've heard from Alaskans across the state who believe it's time to end this discriminatory policy, and I agree with them." On December 18, 2010, Murkowski was one of eight Senate Republicans to vote in favor of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010, and one of only four who had voted for cloture.

Same-sex marriage

In 2004, Senator Murkowski voted in favor of a federal constitutional amendment to define marriage as one man and one woman. She said that would also support an Alaska state law defining marriage as between a man and a woman and that each state should have the right to establish its definition of marriage. Murkowski voted for a federal constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage in 2006. According to her spokesman, she wanted to protect the definition of marriage as between a man and a woman that Alaskans added to their state constitution in 1998.

On March 27, 2013, Murkowski said that her opinion on same-sex marriage was "evolving". She said she noticed that the country's views on marriage are changing, noting conversations with her children and their friends as an example. She said the country had more important issues to focus on than same-sex marriage. On June 19, 2013, Murkowski announced her support of same-sex marriage, citing the encouragement of family values and Alaskans' favor of limiting government's power. She became the third sitting Republican United States Senator to do so after Senators Rob Portman of Ohio and Mark Kirk of Illinois.

Controversies

In July 2007, Murkowski stated she would sell back land she bought from Anchorage businessman Bob Penney, a day after a Washington watchdog group filed a Senate ethics complaint against her, alleging that Penney sold the property well below market value. The Anchorage Daily News noted, "The transaction amounted to an illegal gift worth between $70,000 and $170,000, depending on how the property was valued, according to the complaint by the National Legal and Policy Center." According to the Associated Press, Murkowski bought the land from two developers tied to the Ted Stevens probe.

In 2008, Murkowski amended her Senate financial disclosures for 2004 through 2006, adding income of $60,000 per year from the sale of a property in 2003, and more than $40,000 a year from the sale of her "Alaska Pasta Company" in 2005.

Political campaigns

Murkowski, while a member of the state House, was appointed by her father, Governor Frank Murkowski, to his own unexpired Senate seat in December 2002, which he had vacated after being elected governor. The appointment caused a controversy in the state, and eventually resulted in a referendum that stripped the governor of his power to directly appoint replacement Senators.

2004

See also: United States Senate election in Alaska, 2004

Murkowski was elected to a full six-year term against former Democratic Governor Tony Knowles in the 2004 election, after winning a primary challenge by a large margin. The two were in a dead heat in polls. The centrist Republican Main Street Partnership, which wanted to run TV ads for Murkowski, was told no air time was left to buy. Near the end of the general campaign, senior senator Ted Stevens shot campaign ads for Murkowski and warned the public that if a Democrat replaced Murkowski, they were likely to receive fewer federal dollars.

2010

See also: United States Senate election in Alaska, 2010 and Miller v. Campbell

Murkowski faced the most difficult election of her career in the August 24, 2010, Republican Party primary election against Joe Miller, a former U.S. magistrate judge supported by former Governor Sarah Palin. The initial ballot count for the primary showed her trailing Miller by a margin of 51-49%, with absentee ballots yet to be tallied. After the first round of absentee ballots were counted on August 31, Murkowski conceded the race, stating that she did not believe that Miller's lead would be overcome in the next round of absentee vote count.

Following the outcome of the primary election, the Murkowski campaign floated the idea of her running as a Libertarian in the general election. But on August 29, 2010, the executive board of the state Libertarian Party voted not to consider allowing Murkowski on its ticket for the U.S. Senate race.

On September 17, 2010, Murkowski said that she would mount a write-in campaign for the Senate seat. Her write-in campaign was aided in large part with substantial monetary aid and assistance from the Native corporations and PACs, as well as support from state teachers' and firefighters' unions.

On November 17, 2010, the Associated Press reported that Murkowski became the first Senate candidate in more than 50 years to win a write-in campaign, thereby retaining her seat. Murkowski emerged victorious after a two-week count of write-in ballots showed she had overtaken Miller. Miller did not concede defeat. U.S. Federal District Judge Ralph Beistline granted an injunction to stop the certification of the election due to "serious" legal issues and irregularities raised by Miller as to the hand count of absentee ballots. On December 10, 2010, an Alaskan judge dismissed Miller's case, clearing the way for Murkowski's win; however, Miller appealed the decision to the state Supreme Court, and the results were not certified. On December 13, Miller appealed the Alaska Superior Court decision of the prior week to the Alaska Supreme Court. Miller's appeal was rejected by the state Supreme Court on December 22, 2010. On Dec. 28, 2010, U.S. District Judge Ralph Beistline dismissed Miller's lawsuit. Murkowski was certified as the winner on December 30 by Gov. Sean Parnell.

Electoral history

Alaska House of Representatives, District 14, Republican primary results, 1998
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Lisa Murkowski	830	65.6
	Republican	Mike Miller	436	34.4
Total votes			1,266	100

Alaska House of Representatives, District 14, election results, 1998
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Lisa Murkowski	2,676	96.5
	Write-ins		96	3.5
Total votes			2,772	100

Alaska House of Representatives, District 14, Republican primary results, 2000
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Lisa Murkowski (incumbent)	368	100
Total votes			368	100

Alaska House of Representatives, District 14, election results, 2000
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Lisa Murkowski (incumbent)	3,828	96.4
	Write-ins		145	3.6
Total votes			3,973	100

Alaska House of Representatives, District 18, Republican primary results, 2002
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Lisa Murkowski	486	53.1
	Republican	Nancy A. Dahlstrom	429	46.9
Total votes			915	100

Alaska House of Representatives, District 18, election results, 2002
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Lisa Murkowski	2,231	93.3
	Write-ins		161	6.7
Total votes			2,392	100

United States Senate Republican primary results in Alaska, 2004
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Lisa Murkowski (incumbent)	45,710	58.1
	Republican	Mike Miller	29,313	37.3
	Republican	Wev Shea	2,857	3.6
	Republican	Jim Dore	748	0.9
Total votes			78,628	100

United States Senate election in Alaska, 2004
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Lisa Murkowski (incumbent)	149,446	48.62
	Democratic	Tony Knowles	139,878	45.51
	Independent	Marc J. Millican	8,857	2.88
	Alaskan Independence	Jerry Sanders	3,765	1.22
	Green	Jim Sykes	3,039	0.99
	Libertarian	Scott A. Kohlhaas	1,237	0.40
	Independent	Ted Gianoutsos	726	0.24

United States Senate Republican primary results, in Alaska, 2010
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Joe Miller	55,878	50.91
	Republican	Lisa Murkowski (incumbent)	53,872	49.09
Total votes			109,750	100

United States Senate election in Alaska, 2010
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Write-in	Lisa Murkowski (incumbent)	101,091	39.49
	Republican	Joe Miller	90,839	35.49
	Democratic	Scott McAdams	60,045	23.46
	Libertarian	David Haase	1,459	0.57
	Independent	Timothy Carter	927	0.36
	Independent	Ted Gianoutsos	458	0.18
	Write-in	Other write-in votes	1,143	0.44
Invalid or blank votes			2,784	1.08
Total votes			258,746	100
Voter turnout			52.3%

Personal life

Murkowski is married to Verne Martell. They have two children, Nicolas and Matthew.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]