I care deeply about Alaska, the land and its people. This is my home, where I was born and raised, and where my husband and I have chosen to raise our sons. I want to continue serving the state I love and to build an even better, more prosperous future for all who call Alaska home. I’m proud of my record of accomplishment for Alaskans, and my seniority in Congress is increasingly key to our ability to enact policies that benefit our state. Looking ahead, I want to boost responsible resource development to create jobs, to build infrastructure that connects Alaskans and improves our quality of life, to sustain our world-class fisheries, to enhance our food security, to help ensure veterans receive the benefits they deserve, to honor our elders, to protect our children and to safeguard our communities.

You cannot achieve common-sense solutions unless partisan politics is set aside. This is how I work to legislate and is the principle that has guided the bills I have drafted and ushered into law — including, most recently, the Energy Act of 2020; the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure package; a waiver of the Passenger Vessel Services Act to allow cruise ships to resume travel in 2021 after a near-shutdown of the tourism sector; and the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act earlier this year. I have worked to forge relationships built on respect with members on both sides of the aisle, which allows us to negotiate in good faith and create good policy that will endure for years to come.

Alaska’s salmon are vital to food security, culture and employment. We have enjoyed abundance and fought to protect it for future generations, but our rivers and oceans are at a tipping point. With key exceptions like Bristol Bay, Alaska’s salmon fisheries are struggling to adapt to climate change, plastics pollution, illegal fishing, predation and geopolitical disagreements. Through my role on the Senate Appropriations Committee, I have worked to pursue resilience by increasing and targeting our research and management funding through agency budgets and conservation programs, as well as congressionally directed spending to tribes and nonprofits. We must continue our work to clarify and improve the federal management process to be responsive, accessible and equitable for all Alaskans. And we must ensure that our federal policies take into account the knowledge of the First Alaskans who have responsibly managed marine resources for thousands of years. I was proud to include priorities like climate resilience in the Infrastructure Innovation and Jobs Act of 2021 as well as introducing the Ocean Regional Opportunity and Innovation Act of 2022.

(Listen to the Kodiak Fishery Debate between Murkowski and Chesbro for more detailed discussions of fisheries issues.)

I recognize abortion is an issue where many hold deep and conflicting views. I support a woman’s right to make her own reproductive health decisions within reasonable limitations, in line with what a strong majority of Alaskans believe. Following the Dobbs decision, I worked with a bipartisan group of senators to introduce the Reproductive Freedom for All Act. Our bill protects a woman’s right to an abortion and ensures access to contraception while also protecting religious freedoms and provider conscience protections. I oppose late-term abortions and do not support using taxpayer dollars to fund abortions.

Murkowski’s voting record on abortion-related issues as tracked by VoteSmart.

As a gun owner and strong supporter of the Second Amendment, I voted for the Safer Communities Act to help address the rising level of mass shootings while fully protecting the rights of law-abiding gun owners. The law allows us to better target illegal gun traffickers and enhances the review process for firearm purchases made by those under 21. We do not create national red flag laws, but we do allow states like Alaska to access funds to support programs like mental health and drug courts. This law provides an unprecedented sum — $3 billion — for mental health care and school safety resources to facilitate telehealth programs, crisis and trauma intervention, suicide prevention, and to access funds for school resources officers.

(Editor’s note: Research shows that people who experience mental health challenges are more likely to be victims of gun violence or to die by suicide than to perpetrate violence on others.)

Climate change is real and impacting our state, from receding sea ice and permafrost thaw to changes in fish and wildlife migratory patterns. We have a responsibility to continue reducing our domestic greenhouse gas emissions and an opportunity to develop technologies that we can export so the rest of the world can do the same. I played a lead role in the passage of three significant measures in the past two years alone that will phase down the use of ultra-warming hydrofluorocarbons and invest more than $70 billion in clean technologies. My Energy Act, the only comprehensive modernization of our nation’s energy laws in the past 15 years, and the bipartisan infrastructure law will help us develop all forms of renewable energy, energy storage systems, advanced nuclear reactors, carbon capture and carbon removal technologies, electric vehicles and more. While I did not support the Inflation Reduction Act as it would actually increase inflation, a silver lining of its passage was the inclusion of several energy-related provisions that I supported on a standalone basis, including new tax credits to spur the deployment of hydrogen, hydropower and geothermal. Going forward, I will continue to recognize climate change as a threat that we must work together to address. I will propose and support policies focused on innovation, efficiency and technology deployment, while doing more to help our state with climate adaptation, climate resilience and ocean acidification.

As Justice Scalia wrote in the Citizens United case, “Requiring people to stand up in public for their political acts fosters civic courage, without which democracy is doomed.” Transparency is key. We must always be doing more to inform the public as to who is contributing to political campaigns. In 2012, I introduced a bipartisan blueprint for campaign finance reform. Alaska took a strong step forward in doing this on the state level in 2020, and I have long supported and introduced legislation to strengthen campaign finance disclosure.

There are steps we can take to reduce inflation, and some things we should not do. We should not increase taxes and raise spending, as some in Congress are proposing. We should focus on supply chains and increasing the domestic supply of a wide range of resources — from energy to minerals, which form the basis for almost every product in modern society. Alaska is uniquely positioned to help, but we need the government to partner with us, not push us out of the way. We can produce more oil to ease pain at the pump. We can build a gasline, to add more than 3 BCF of natural gas to world markets each day. We can produce graphite, cobalt and additional minerals to restrain commodity prices and avoid shortfalls. We can do all this without compromising environmental standards and continuing to reduce emissions. We need to be careful to only increase federal spending where truly needed, such as investment in legacy infrastructure. We also need to review the Federal Reserve’s policies to understand their impacts and ensure they do not contribute further to the inflationary pressure.

Our country has the highest drug prices in the world, with the highest costs on drugs that Medicare enrollees use most. I have led on the Prescription Drug Pricing Reduction Act and was one of the Republicans to support the provision to cap the cost of insulin in the recent Inflation Reduction Act. That price needs to be capped for private-plan users, as well. I also supported capping Medicare out-of-pocket costs to $2,000 annually for prescription drugs. The Inflation Reduction Act was advertised as a silver bullet for fixing the high price of prescription drugs, and while there will be certain drugs the federal government will negotiate on cost, I still want a comprehensive solution to bring down the cost of drugs for everyone, not just Medicare enrollees and the federal government — I believe the bipartisan Prescription Drug Pricing Reduction Act, which reduces drug costs and increases transparency, would have been a better solution. I have supported the expansion of telehealth coverage and capabilities, including supporting the expansion of broadband. Through appropriations, I’ve worked to provide funding for new clinics and medical equipment throughout the state, a new emergency room in Anchorage and workforce development funding for nursing, doctor, psychiatry and dental programs.

The key to achieving results for Alaska Native people is recognizing the unique legal framework Alaska’s sovereign tribes, tribal nonprofits and Alaska Native corporations have, and accounting for it in legislation, regulation, budgets and funding. Also fundamental is ensuring meaningful consultation and coordination with Alaska’s 229 sovereign tribes is carried out by the federal government, as executive branch agencies implement the law, promulgate regulations and take actions that impact tribal communities. I have negotiated, authored and navigated legislation on energy, infrastructure, health care, rural broadband, public safety and food security that accounts for tribal governments and Alaska Native institutions and ensures resources and opportunities are appropriately available. As vice chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, I authored the Tribal title of the Violence Against Women Act, which includes my Alaska Tribal Public Safety Empowerment Pilot program. This program recognizes that Alaska tribes, with the support of the federal government, can be effective partners with the state to address Alaska’s rural public safety crisis. I have also worked to address the longstanding crisis of missing, murdered and trafficked Indigenous people through the passage of Savanna’s Act and Not Invisible Act. All three bills were signed into law and will increase the tools available to tribes and will address intergovernmental coordination across the board.

I believe there is a lot at stake for Alaska in this election. In this time of worsening partisan and geopolitical conflict, many leaders don’t seem willing to recognize or address the forces that are trying to tear us apart. They buy into it, and add to it, further polarizing us. We need to elect individuals who are committed to solving problems by working across party lines to bring people together, to bring about unity rather than create division, and to actually solve problems rather than send messages. My commitment is to do just that, working for all Alaskans. And I believe that, along with my seniority and track record of real results for Alaska, make me the best candidate in this race. I would be honored to earn your vote so that I can continue to serve you and the state we love.

No. I do not support an outright ban that infringes on Second Amendment rights. (See answer to gun violence question.)

Yes.

Yes.

Yes — 174,032 Alaskans voted for this new system.

No.

This only covers contributions up to September 30, 2022. Murkowski raised an additional $1 million since July 27, 2022, about half through individual contributions and half through committees.

Understanding FEC filings: Individuals can also donate to campaigns through intermediaries, or conduit PACs. Some are like WinRed, which is a platform for people to make donations to Republican candidates. Murkowski received $1.25 million through WinRed since Jan. 1, 2021. 

Votesane PAC is a bipartisan group like WinRed that lists all candidates no matter what the party. Donors gave Murkowski $52,914 through that portal. Others are aligned more directly with specific ideologies. For example, individuals gave $38,474 to Murkowski through the American Israel Public Affairs Committee PAC and $31,250 through NORPAC, both of which support strong ties between the U.S. and Israel. Of Murkowski’s itemized individual donors, only about 27 percent are from Alaska.

Murkowski received more than $2.3 million from 527 political action committees. Their causes range from specific medical issues to specific industries. Check out the full list here.

Independent Expenditures are things like ad buys or mailers sent out by organizations that are not associated with the campaigns and are forbidden by law from working with campaigns.This year, Alaskans for L.I.S.A. spent $3.5 million in support of Murkowski. Of that, $1.5 million came from Kenneth Griffin, the CEO of Citadel, an international investment firm with offices worldwide. Another $500,000 is from John Arnold with Arnold Ventures in Houston and $500,000 from James and Kathryn Murdoch, co-founders of Quadrivium. ClearPath Action, which supports Republican clean energy leaders, spent $380,000 in support of Murkowski.