‘Agonizing’: How Alaska’s pivotal Republican senator decided to vote for Donald Trump’s bill
July 1, 2025
Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska convinced Senate leaders to change their massive tax and spending cuts package to benefit her state and eventually voted for the legislation, ensuring its passage. Murkowski said the last day had been “probably the most difficult and agonizing legislative 24-hour period that I have encountered.” Murkowski has been in the Senate for 23 years, and she’s taken a lot of tough votes as a moderate Republican who often breaks with her party. So she knew what she was doing when she managed to leverage the pressure campaign against her into several new programs that benefit her very rural state, including special carveouts for Medicaid and food assistance.
