Lisa Murkowski

Lisa Ann Murkowski /mɜːrˈkaʊskiː/ (born May 22, 1957) is the senior United States Senator from Alaska and a member of the Republican Party. She has served in the Senate since 2002. Murkowski became the state's senior senator on January 3, 2009, when Democrat Mark Begich, who had defeated Alaska's senior senator Ted Stevens in November 2008, took office. 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 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 Mille