GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski endorses Democratic candidate in Alaska governor’s race

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Cite

Guilfoil, K. (2026, October 28). GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski endorses Democratic candidate in Alaska governor’s race. NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2026-election/lisa-murkowski-endorses-democrat-alaska-governor-race-rcna606045

Dated from the outlet's own feed. Check the original for its byline.

NBC News · collected 2026-10-28 · by Kyla Guilfoil

Quick Summary

Senator Lisa Murkowski endorsed Democratic candidate Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins for governor in Alaska, despite opposition from Republican candidates including Trump-endorsed Bernadette Wilson. In an interview with KTUU, Murkowski praised Kreiss-Tomkins as a collaborative leader needed to work effectively with the state Legislature. She criticized her fellow Republicans for being too partisan and expressed doubt that Wilson could cooperate with Democrats.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-28, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

Story summary

On October 28, 2026, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) endorsed Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, the Democratic candidate for governor of Alaska, in the upcoming election on November 7. Murkowski’s endorsement is seen as significant given her criticism of President Trump and her push for bipartisan cooperation. She stated that she believes Kreiss-Tomkins will work well with the state legislature, a quality she values highly. Kreiss-Tomkins, a former state lawmaker, expressed gratitude for the support from Murkowski, emphasizing her reputation for working across party lines in Congress. This backing is particularly notable as it could influence voter behavior in Alaska's ranked choice voting system, where Kreiss-Tomkins remains the sole Democrat on the ballot.

Written for “Lisa Murkowski Endorses Democrat” on 2026-10-28, grounded in this article and the 1 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
The model judged this article politically coded and scored it -0.35, but all 3 of its quote(s) are attributed speech - words the article quotes from someone, not the article's own narration, so the score is not published.
Written under an earlier scoring contract, which gave a paragraph rather than checkable quotes. Re-analysing this article replaces it.
Leaning score withheld for article 111133: attributed speech only · logged 2026-10-28

Story

📰 Lisa Murkowski Endorses Democrat
Politics · 2 article(s) covering the same event. See how they differ ↓

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 5% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
Washington Examiner · 0.94 cosine similarity
⚖️ Leans left 🔴 50% hedged 1 of 2 📰 publisher trust 70
“Both articles describe Sen. Lisa Murkowski endorsing Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins in Alaska, occurring on the same date and involving the same political context.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
20
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
5%
1 of 20 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
withheld
no quote in the article backed the model's score
Publisher signals
95/100
NBC News's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
2
Politics
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-28 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

NBC News · 1810 article(s) · 0 correction(s) detected
No corrections detected for this publisher. That may mean careful reporting, or simply that nothing has been checked.

Who wrote this

Kyla Guilfoil
17 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 In the race to succeed term-limited GOP Gov. Mike Dunleavy, Kreiss-Tomkins is competing with former Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson, former state Attorney General Treg Taylor and Wilson, whom Trump endorsed this month.
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🔮 “I’m proud of our Constitution that guarantees all of us the right to pray as we choose to pray, and the question that you would ask that, I think, is actually really quite shameful.”
🔮 One of the sources said preliminary field testing continued through the night on the unknown substance and that so far, all the powder tested has been determined to not be hazardous. Further testing will take place at law enforcement laboratories, the source added.
🔮 A federal magistrate judge ruled a month later that the administration could not examine the data that FBI agents had seized there.
🔮 If you need, the Federal Government will come to your rescue.”
🔮 After having faced fierce backlash, President Donald Trump on Wednesday sought to clean up incendiary comments he made earlier this week, when he said Iran could “take out” Los Angeles or San Diego.
🔮 The executive branch would effectively send the funds back to Congress using so-called pocket rescissions, a rare budgetary tactic that the Trump administration has used before to negate congressionally allocated spending.
🔮 “At this late date, ordering reversion to the 2025 map in the midst of an ongoing election would usher in electoral chaos,” the ruling said.
Also by Kyla Guilfoil
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 17 articles by Kyla Guilfoil →

Topics

Alaska Anchorage Democratic GOP KTUU

Subjects

Alaska GPE · 7× Murkowski PERSON · 7× Trump PERSON · 7× Democratic NORP · 3× GOP ORG · 3× KTUU ORG · 3× Wilson PERSON · 3× Anchorage GPE · 2× Lisa Murkowski PERSON · 2× Republicans NORP · 2×

Narrative

“Given that Senator Lisa Murkowski abandoned Alaska values a long time ago, I am not surprised that she has endorsed ‘Just Keep Taxing’ JKT,” she said in a statement, arguing that Kreiss-Tomkins’ “allegiance lies with extreme socialists hellbent on fighting President Trump to the detriment of everyday Alaskans.”
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-28
🔮 In the race to succeed term-limited GOP Gov. Mike Dunleavy, Kreiss-Tomkins is competing with former Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson, former state Attorney General Treg Taylor and Wilson, whom Trump endorsed this month.

Claims (20 extracted, 1 hedged)

Sen. Lisa Murkowski endorsed the Democratic candidate for governor in her home state of Alaska on Tuesday, snubbing GOP contenders who include a Trump-backed candidate a week out from Election Day. asserted
who → endorse → Day
Murkowski, one of President Donald Trump’s more vocal critics among Senate Republicans, said she is backing Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins over Bernadette Wilson, who has Trump’s endorsement. asserted
who → say → endorsement
“JKT is a young Alaskan with a view and a perspective that I think Alaska needs right now — a freshness of energy, a commonsense guy who has a known ability to be working together,” she said in an interview on NBC affiliate KTUU of Anchorage. asserted
she → think → Anchorage
Murkowski said she believes the three Republican gubernatorial candidates on the ballot in Alaska, which has ranked choice voting, are too partisan. asserted
which → say → voting
“We need a governor who’s going to work with the Legislature,” she said. asserted
she → need → Legislature
“That has got to happen for the delegation to be successful back in Washington, D.C.” asserted
delegation → get → Washington
Kreiss-Tompkins, a former state lawmaker, told KTUU he was grateful for Murkowski’s support. asserted
he → tell → support
“I have a lot of respect for Lisa, her integrity. asserted
I → have → Lisa
I think she’s worked across the aisle in Congress, which is a quality I really admire and hope to live up to if I’m elected governor,” he said. asserted
he → think → Congress
“And I’m very grateful that she wanted to step up and be a part of the coalition that we’re building. asserted
we → ’m → that
He added that the two of them have “had a few conversations” as his campaign has progressed, “and I think she just got to a degree where she felt she was confident in our ticket and our ability to solve problems for Alaska.” asserted
she → add → Alaska
In the race to succeed term-limited GOP Gov. Mike Dunleavy, Kreiss-Tomkins is competing with former Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson, former state Attorney General Treg Taylor and Wilson, whom Trump endorsed this month. asserted
Trump → succeed → whom
The NBC News Decision Desk rates the governor’s race in Alaska, where Trump won in 2016, 2020 and 2024, as leaning Democratic. asserted
Trump → rat → Democratic
In her comments to KTUU, Murkowski raised concerns that Wilson wouldn’t work at any point with Democrats. asserted
Wilson → raise → Democrats
“Given that Senator Lisa Murkowski abandoned Alaska values a long time ago, I am not surprised that she has endorsed ‘Just Keep Taxing’ JKT,” she said in a statement, arguing that Kreiss-Tomkins’ “allegiance lies with extreme socialists hellbent on fighting President Trump to the detriment of everyday Alaskans.” asserted
allegiance → give → Alaskans
Murkowski, who isn’t up for re-election until 2028, endorsed GOP Sen. Dan S. Sullivan in his re-election bid this year. asserted
who → endorse → bid
He is in a competitive race that includes a candidate named Dan J. Sullivan Jr. and Democratic candidate Mary Peltola. asserted
that → include → candidate
The Trump administration sued election officials in Alaska last week, arguing that Sullivan Jr.’s appearance on the ballot could mislead voters who intended to support Sullivan’s re-election. uncertain
who → sue → election
Murkowski criticized the move, writing on X, “Alaskans don’t need any help voting for their preferred candidates, and the State of Alaska has already handled this by clearly distinguishing the candidates on this year’s ballot.” asserted
State → criticize → ballot
Trump tore into Murkowski the next day on social media, calling her the “Republicans’ Worst Senator, by far.” asserted
Trump → tear → her
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