Biography:

Lisa Murkowski is a third generation Alaskan and was appointed to the U.S. Senate by her father, Gov. Frank Murkowski. The elder Murkowski served in the U.S. Senate for 22 years before becoming governor.

Lisa Murkowski was born in Ketchikan, attended Monroe High School in Fairbanks and settled in the Government Hill section of Anchorage.

She attended Willamette University from 1975 to 1977 and Georgetown University from 1978 to 1980 where she received a bachelor's degree in economics.

She received a law degree from Willamette College of Law and worked briefly for the Anchorage District Court and law firms before opening her own practice in 1997.

She married Verne Martell and they have two sons, Nicolas and Matthew.

Murkowski began her political career in the Alaska Legislature, where she was elected to three terms in the state House from 1998-2002. She was elected House Majority Leader by the GOP caucus but stepped down before serving.

She was appointed to the U.S. Senate on Dec. 20, 2002, by her father, who left the Senate after he was elected governor.

Past Campaigns:

Lisa Murkowski was appointed Dec. 20, 2002 to fill out the remaining U.S. Senate term of her father after he was elected governor. He was allowed to pick his successor after the GOP-controlled legislature passed a law blocking the former Democratic governor from filling the vacancy. That would have allowed Gov. Tony Knowles, now a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, to make the appointment.

The 2002 campaign will be her first statewide election.

Murkowski began her political career in the Alaska Legislature, where she was elected to three terms in the state House from 1998-2002. She was elected House Majority Leader by the GOP caucus but stepped down before serving.

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