GOP Senator Murkowski: I Would Prefer 'No Label'

Lisa Murkowski is a Republican senator from Alaska, but she suggested on Thursday that the word "Republican" is least important part of that description.

• "I'm not attached to a label, I'd rather be that 'no label,'" she said during a DC forum hosted by the centrist No Labels group, reports Politico. "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 later clarified that she is not about to leave her party. "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," she said. The senator added she is more of a "Reagan Republican" than a "Trump Republican," and she recalled how one critic told her she wasn't a Republican, period. "And I said, 'You can call me whatever you want to call me.'"
• Murkowski and fellow GOP moderate Susan Collins are expected to be "critical swing votes" in the coming year, as Axios previously noted. Both, for example, are seen as potential "no" votes on defense chief Pete Hegseth, per the Hill.
• After meeting with Hegseth earlier this week, Murkowski didn't tip her hand. "I had a meeting with Pete Hegseth and I appreciated the opportunity for the exchange of conversation," she told reporters, adding it was a "good exchange" but declining to offer more details. President-elect Trump can afford three GOP defections in the coming Senate.

(More Lisa Murkowski stories.)