Murkowski wants to keep top GOP slot on Natural Resources

Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee ranking member Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) on Monday defiantly said she would retain the top Republican spot on the panel in the next Congress if reelected in her write-in campaign.

“I don’t lose anything; I didn’t switch my party affiliation; I’m still a Republican, still a member of that caucus, still have that seniority that I have accrued,” Murkowski told reporters in the Capitol Building Monday. “And I am the most senior member so I will be the ranking member.”

Senate Republican leaders, however, do not appear to have decided to back Murkowski’s seniority status and may end up supporting Sen. Richard Burr’s (R-N.C.) bid to head the panel instead.

Burr was in line in September to become acting ranking Republican when Murkowski lost her Republican primary to Joe Miller. But while Senate Republicans on the panel agreed to make that change, the full GOP caucus did not act on that recommendation despite lobbying by Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.). DeMint argued that Republicans should be helping out their own and not Murkowski, who waged a write-in campaign as a Republican against Miller and Democrat Scott McAdams.  

At the time, aides said Burr would be the panel’s ranking Republican in the next Congress regardless and that there was not a need to demote Murkowski while she was waging her write-in re-election campaign.

It’s up to members of the panel to determine their ranking member. Given changes to the panel’s roster, it’s unclear whether Murkowski or Burr would have the most support.

The topic of whether she would lead Republicans on the panel came up when Murkowski sat down with McConnell Monday for the first time since Election Day.

“We talked very, very generally,” she told reporters of that meeting. “Keep in mind this is like being back at school after summer vacation and you’re seeing people for the first time and you kind of say ‘so what did you do’? And I had a little more to talk about then some of my other colleagues,” Murkowski said.

When asked whether she received any kind of clarification or promise from McConnell that she could lead Republicans on the energy panel if she wins re-election, Murkowski said, “The conversation was very, very general and very friendly and very cordial and very assuring that ‘you haven’t lost anything around here Lisa in terms of your seniority or the respect of your colleagues.’”

She downplayed the idea that there will be a fight with Burr over the job.

“You know I just got back to town and I read what you guys write which tells me that there may be some kind of an effort out there,” she said. “I have not heard that from Senator Burr nor from any other member so I just have to believe that that’s a little leftover speculation from September.”

Murkowski said she rubbed elbows as well Monday with National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman John Cornyn (R-Texas), who had helped Miller’s effort to defeat Murkowski in the general election. “He said congratulations [like] everybody else,” Murkowski said. “And what I tell everybody is that it’s not over yet, we still have more votes to count.”

She added, “I haven’t had a sip of champagne.”

A spokesman for the NRSC said Cornyn congratulated her on a hard-fought race. The spokesman said ultimately the race would be decided by Alaskan voters.

Murkowski said she had not seen DeMint. “Maybe he’s avoiding me,” she joked.

Murkowski is winning close to 90 percent of the write-in votes, which puts her on a path to eclipse Miller's total by a few thousand votes once the counting concludes.

“I’m thinking more Wednesday, we’ll know exactly what those counts are looking like,” Murkowski said.

NRSC lawyers have been reportedly packing up and leaving the state, an ominous sign for Miller’s prospects. Miller may still wage a legal fight against the legitimacy of some of the write-in votes.