Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski Reflects on 'Blue Wave' in 2026 Election - Alaska Public Media

Following the 2026 midterm election, U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski visited Nome and stopped by the local radio station KNOM for an interview with KNOM News Director Ben Townsend and reporter Augusta McDonnell.

When Townsend asked what brought her to Nome, Sen. Lisa Murkowski said: “So you may or may not be aware, we just had an election yesterday, and with all the chaos and the swirl that goes on with politics, I have to tell you, I just want to be working again. And so, as I was looking at my schedule, I had a day Wednesday that was pretty clear, and I thought I haven’t been up to Nome all year. I’m going to go up. I’m going to just let the chaos and the swirl of the elections be behind me and focus on work. So today it was all about the high prices of fuel and energy, housing issues, the economic challenges that come with opportunity. So it has been a full day of Nome immersion again, and it’s felt pretty good.”

During the discussion about the port expansion in Nome and Congress appropriating nearly $25 billion in 2025 to the U.S. Coast Guard for its icebreaker and cutter fleet, air assets, and infrastructure, Sen. Lisa Murkowski discussed military and Coast Guard presence in the region. She stated:

I have had numerous constructive meetings with Mr. Blanche and he comes across as decent and capable. I appreciate the trip he made to learn more about Alaska, including our rural areas, and as Acting Attorney General he has made several noteworthy decisions that will benefit our…

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“I want to encourage, and I am actively encouraging the Coast Guard to have more of a presence here. When you think that your closest Coast Guard station is down in Kodiak, and how many maritime miles that is from where we are here in the Bering Straits, there is a lot of water in between. And it’s not only water that has fisheries that are active. You’ve got a level of shipping that is just almost explosive in terms of what we have seen coming through the Bering Straits in recent years, and we just don’t have the Coast Guard presence that I believe we need to have.”

Sen. Lisa Murkowski added:

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“But if you’re going to have a Coast Guard presence, you also need to have a place where you can put your ships. And so whether it’s Arctic security cutters or other vessels that can be there to serve this region, I want to see our military. I want to see our Coast Guard be more actively engaged with the community here in looking at the future.”

Addressing whether increased traffic in the Bering Strait is viewed with concern, Sen. Lisa Murkowski said that whether people like it or not, it is out there and happening:

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“But there have been some who say, ‘Well, I don’t really want to have increased traffic in the Bering Strait.’ Whether we like it or not, it is out there. It is happening. And so, how we can have a presence that provides for security, surety, environmental protections. These are the things that not only the people of Nome, but the people throughout the region and really up and down the entire coast need to be part of.”

“A military base is a pretty substantial undertaking, and so I would not be suggesting that we would see a military base in Nome in the next five years.”