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Challenger primed to face GOP's longtime Senate dissenter as Trump brings new focus to Alaska
By Charles Creitz
Published August 28, 2025
EXCLUSIVE: Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy is primed to announce a 2028 run for U.S. Senate against Sen. Lisa Murkowski, the Republican legislator who repeatedly has clashed with President Donald Trump, according to several sources familiar with the situation or close to the governor.
"He’s not going to quit his term," a top source close to Dunleavy who used to work with him in Juneau, Alaska, told Fox News Digital of the governor’s long-term plans. The next Senate race in the Last Frontier falls in 2026 for incumbent Republican Dan Sullivan.
The last governor to resign to run for higher office — 2008 vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin — "never recovered," the source said.
Dunleavy "cares deeply about and wants Alaska to succeed," the source said, adding the governor recently quipped that he can’t understand why people would want to "live with all this concrete" in Washington and not in the verdant Arctic as one reason the Pennsylvania-born Republican likes to otherwise avoid the East Coast.
"But he knows that (being in Washington) is the only way to get things done," the source said, adding that Dunleavy was the second governor to endorse Trump in 2016 and that a top member of the White House staff said he visits more than any other governor despite a 3,500-mile trek.
"He's not about an ego and pushing himself in front of the cameras. He gets stuff done. … He's not like, ‘Please put me on this committee’ or ‘I have to attend this ball’. He doesn't like those types of things," the source added.
"Trump has talked to him before about running and wants him to run."
Dunleavy was notably present at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, when Trump met with Russian President Vladimir Putin Aug. 15.
Despite being a red state, it is an "uphill climb" to get elected governor as a Republican, another source close to the situation told Fox News Digital Wednesday.
Former Gov. Jay Hammond was the last Republican to win re-election there, in 1978. Another Republican, Sean Parnell, who rose to the job after Palin’s 2009 departure, did not technically win re-election during the 2010 cycle that kept him in office.
"A lot of people have mentioned this (race) to him and … I think it is a very viable option for him," the source said.
"Obviously there are a lot of frustrations with Sen. Murkowski," he said, adding that the disparity in Trump’s relationship between the two Alaskans is "no secret."
"Gov. Dunleavy has been not only a successful governor, but a pretty strong ally for him. So, it's only natural that he'd be hearing that from Alaskans — but also from folks in the broader MAGA movement."
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Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy (Reuters; Getty Images)
Dunleavy, like Murkowski, has also been successful in the state’s ranked-choice voting system, which critics claim has inordinately helped Democrats. Mary Peltola, a Democrat, notably won the seat of the late Republican Rep. Don Young, who helmed the at-large district for decades.
Murkowski also "never faced a challenger like him," someone who has broad support outside conservative circles, the second source noted.
The governor is close to Native communities on the North Slope and beyond, where residents in far-flung communities have praised him for his focus on Alaska’s energy development potential and allocation of resources for issues like rural education and infrastructure.
A top Alaska political analyst and pollster agreed.
"Conservatives would welcome an opportunity to unseat Murkowski," he said in an interview Thursday.
"The fact that (Trump) and Murkowski have had such a strained relationship and Dunleavy and the president having a good relationship is really what has led us to this point in the conversation," he said.
One area that all parties agreed on is the importance of the Native vote in Alaska elections, particularly those featuring Murkowski or Dunleavy. While the Native electorate leans left, it also crosses party lines to support both such candidates, setting up what the pollster described as an interesting showdown.
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Anchorage, Alaska's skyline. (Zihao Chen/Getty Images)
"What would happen in a matchup like this is they would feel conflicted, and you would see some of them probably back Dunleavy and some of them back Murkowski. … The ones that are primarily involved in the oil and gas and resources business, they view Murkowski as strong on those issues as well as Dunleavy. And, so, they would feel conflicted about who to support."
The difference between the two, he reiterated, is that Dunleavy’s other base is firmly on the conservative right, while Murkowski’s is in the center, where she also draws support from moderate Democrats.
Murkowski, daughter of another Alaska Republican governor, Frank Murkowski, notably also mounted a strong enough bid to win a write-in campaign in 2010 after being knocked off the GOP ticket by Tea Party candidate Joe Miller.
All of those who spoke to Fox News Digital agreed the race would be a close one to watch.
Alaska also uniquely swears in its governor in December, a month earlier than the presidency, Congress and most other state leaders.
Fox News Digital reached out to a representative for Dunleavy, a contact listed for Murkowski’s campaign and her Senate office and the White House for comment.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/challenger-primed-face-gops-longtime-senate-dissenter-trump-brings-new-focus-alaska