Lisa Murkowski (R)*

Current Job:

Attorney

Birth Date:

May 22, 1957

Religion:

Catholic

Education:

Georgetown University, BA Economics
Willamette College of Law, JD Law

Biography:

Lisa Murkowski is a third-generation Alaskan and was appointed to the U.S. Senate by her father, Gov. Frank Murkowski. The elder Murkowski served in the U.S. Senate for 22 years before becoming governor.

Lisa Murkowski was born in Ketchikan, attended Monroe High School in Fairbanks and settled in the Government Hill section of Anchorage.

She attended Willamette University from 1975 to 1977 and Georgetown University from 1978 to 1980, where she received a bachelor's degree in economics.

She received a law degree from Willamette College of Law and worked briefly for the Anchorage District Court and law firms before opening her own practice in 1997.

Murkowski began her political career in the Alaska Legislature, where she was elected to three terms in the state House from 1998 to 2002. She was elected House Majority Leader by the GOP caucus but stepped down before serving.

She was appointed to the U.S. Senate on Dec. 20, 2002. She was elected to her first full term in 2004, defeating Tony Knowles, a two-term Democratic governor.

She married Verne Martell and they have two sons.

Profile:

Lisa Murkowski was chosen in 2002 by her father, the newly elected governor, to fill the vacant seat he left in the U.S. Senate. She skipped ahead over a long list of prominent Alaska Republicans, raising the ire of some in the GOP.

But she overcame claims of nepotism to win her first full Senate term in 2004, defeating Democratic challenger Tony Knowles, a popular former two-term governor.

In that same election, voters approved a ballot initiative that removed the ability to make appointments to U.S. Senate vacancies.

While in the Alaska Legislature, Murkowski built a reputation as a moderate whose stance was in contrast to her more conservative father. She was part of a bipartisan coalition called the Fiscal Policy Caucus promoting taxes and other revenue measures before the conservative Alaska Legislature.

She voted against a ban on abortions designed to save the woman's life of health, or to end a pregnancy that would result in a child with a congenital disorder. She also voted against a resolution to repeal the Brady Bill. She also authored an increase in the state's alcohol tax.

In the Senate, Murkowski voted to uphold a ban on abortions in overseas military facilities and maintained a 100 percent National Rifle Association voting record.

Murkowski was part of a small band of Republican senators who in December 2005 blocked reauthorization of the Patriot Act to protest the elimination of protections against government surveillance, defying the wishes of President Bush. A compromise was reached two months later.

The American Conservative Union gave Murkowski's 2006 voting record a score of 71 points out of a possible 100. The liberal Americans for Democratic Action gave her 5 points.

Campaigns:

Lisa Murkowski won her first full Senate term in 2004, defeating the former Democratic Gov. Tony Knowles 50 percent to 45 percent.Murkowski was appointed Dec. 20, 2002, to complete the remainder of the U.S. Senate term of her father after he was elected governor. He was allowed to pick his successor after the GOP-controlled legislature passed a law blocking Knowles from filling the vacancy.Murkowski began her political career in the Alaska Legislature, where she was elected to three terms in the state House from 1998 to 2002. She was elected House Majority Leader by the GOP caucus but stepped down before serving.