Lisa Ann Murkowski (born May 22, 1957 in Ketchikan, Alaska) is the senior United States Senator from the State of Alaska and a member of the Republican Party. She has served in the Senate since 2002. She became the state's senior senator when Ted Stevens retired in 2009.
She is the daughter of former U.S. Senator and Governor of Alaska Frank Murkowski. Before her appointment to the Senate, she served in the Alaska House of Representatives and was eventually elected Majority leader.
Murkowski was appointed to the U.S. Senate by her father, Frank Murkowski who resigned his senate seat in December 2002 to become the Governor of Alaska. She completed her father's unexpired term which ended in January 2005. She ran for and won a full term in 2004
She ran for a second term in 2010. She lost the Republican Party nomination to Tea Party candidate Joe Miller. She then ran as a write-in candidate and defeated both Miller and Democrat Scott McAdams in the general election, making her the first senator to be elected by write-in vote since Strom Thurmond in 1954.