Senator Murkowski says anyone hoping for a Republican to publicly stand up against President Trump or Elon Musk’s DOGE effort should not hold their breath because her colleagues are “afraid” of the president and the world’s richest man, both of whom have the activist networks and the money to primary lawmakers.

Ms. Murkowski said Wednesday, however, that she would not consider leaving the GOP, and that she would try to work with the president when she can. 

The Alaska senator has long been a critic of the president and refused to endorse him in his 2016, 2020, and 2024 runs for the White House. She has been one of the few lawmakers to raise concerns about Mr. Musk’s DOGE effort and his attempts to fire federal employees, including some of the more than 10,000 who live in Alaska. 

After delivering a speech to members of the Alaska state legislature on Wednesday, Ms. Murkowski spoke to a small number of local reporters about the work she is doing in the nation’s capital. During the nearly 30-minute question and answer session — video of which was shared by KTOO Public Media — Ms. Murkowski said she is fine with Mr. Musk coming after her if she speaks out, though warns that some of her own colleagues are afraid. 

“I am not going to compromise my own integrity by hiding from my words when I feel they need to be spoken. I’m gonna take the criticism that comes and it may be that Elon Musk has decided he’s gonna take the next billion dollars that he makes off of Starlink and put it directly against Lisa Murkowski,” she said. 

“You know what? That may happen, but I’m not giving up one minute, one opportunity to try to stand up for Alaskans,” she added. 

When she was asked about the state of the Republican Party and lawmakers’ concerns about Mr. Musk’s frenzied attempt to cut government jobs and services, Ms. Murkowski said she’s one of the few to speak out because other Republicans see how she gets treated by conservative activists. 

“I get criticized for what I say and then everybody else is like, ‘Well, how come nobody else is saying anything?’ Well, figure it out, because they’re looking at how many things are being thrown at me, and it’s like, ‘Maybe I better just duck and cover,” Ms. Murkowski said of other GOP senators. “That’s why you’ve got everybody just like, zip-lip, not saying a word because they’re afraid they’re gonna be taken down, they’re gonna be primaried, they’re gonna be given names in the media.”

“We cannot be cowed into not speaking up,” she said sternly. 

Her frustrations, she says, stem from the fact that Mr. Musk and the administration officials firing federal employees in Alaska don’t know what they’re doing or what impact the firings will have. Unlike other Republicans who have direct access to the White House in order to voice their concerns, Ms. Murkowski has to speak out publicly. 

“I have been more vocal in some of my concerns with what I’m seeing coming out of the administration — more vocal than some of my colleagues — but that’s not to suggest that every Republican is 100 percent in agreement with the means and methods that we’re seeing,” the Alaska senator told reporters. “They’re just choosing to share it in different ways. Maybe it’s a direct call to the president. Maybe it’s in different relationships that they have.”

Ms. Murkowski has twice beaten back strong Republican challengers for her Senate seat, despite the fact she has a relatively moderate record in a deep-red state. After being appointed to the Senate by her father — then the governor of Alaska in 2002 — and winning reelection 2004, Ms. Murkowski lost the GOP primary in 2010 to a Tea Party activist. She would go on to win that race as a write-in candidate. In 2022, Ms. Murkowski won her fourth full term in the Senate despite Mr. Trump endorsing another Republican. 

Given her strength in the state, Ms. Murkowski says she won’t let an outsider dictate her votes, even if it is a president from the same party. 

“I’m gonna have to figure out where I can work with him, and I’m gonna have to stiffen my spine and take the slings and arrows when people say: ‘Why aren’t you a better Republican? And if you’re not, get out of the party.’ You know what?” Ms. Murkowski asked. “Until Alaskans tell me, ‘Lisa, it’s just not working anymore,’ I am gonna give you every last breath that I have.”

She cautioned, however, that she would never leave the Republican Party to join Senate Democrats because the party broadly does not share her policy goals. As a senior member of the Republican conference, she says she has more influence there despite disagreements with fellow GOP members. 

“You’ve got two sides of the aisle. Your committees are determined by which side you caucus with, so even if I were to be an independent … I’m still in the same place. I’m still caucusing with the Republicans, because, believe me I have no desire to go over to the Democrats’ side of the aisle. I don’t fit there, I’m not one, and it’s not how I think,” Ms. Murkowski said.