As Alaska's senior senator, Murkowski followed in her father's footsteps-literally. But that almost changed when she lost the GOP primary in the 2010 midterms to an upstart Republican backed by the woman who defeated her dad in his 2006 gubernatorial reelection bid, Sarah Palin.
Attorney Joe Miller (R) was backed by Palin and the tea party and came from seemingly nowhere to defeat Murkowski in the August primary, 51 to 49 percent.
But in a surprising twist, Murkowski launched a write-in campaign in the general election. It appears that she has succeeded. Two weeks after the election, the Associated Press called the Senate seat for the incumbent after Alaskan officials announced they had only 700 write-in ballots left to tally, making Murkowski's lead seemingly insurmountable at 10,000 votes. It was unclear, however, if Miller would request a recount.
If her victory is certified, Murkowski will make the history books, having become the first candidate to win election to the Senate as a write-in candidate since Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.) in 1954.
In 2002, newly-elected Gov. Frank Murkowski (R-Alaska) appointed his daughter, then the majority leader of the Alaska House, to replace him in the Senate seat he had held for over two decades. Lisa Murkowski won her first full Senate term in 2004.
Like her dad, Murkowski has carved out a powerful role for herself in the Senate. When the 111th Congress convened in January 2009, Murkowski got a seat on the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, became the ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and was appointed by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) as one of his three counsels.
Murkowski has been surrounded - but not directly touched - by Alaska's myriad political scandals . Her father badly lost his 2006 primary reelection bid after accusations of improper deals with an oil-field company and his infamous purchase of a jet with almost $3 million of state funds. Murkowski's former senate colleague and mentor, the late Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), was convicted in 2008 of ethics violations, but cleared of all charges after major bungling by prosecutors in 2009.
More on: Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska)
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