Lisa Ann Murkowski (born May 22, 1957) is an American attorney and politician serving as the senior United States senator representing Alaska, having held that seat since 2002. She is the Senate's second-most senior Republican woman, after Susan Collins of Maine. She became dean of Alaska's Congressional delegation upon Representative Don Young's death. Murkowski 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 elected majority leader. She was controversially appointed to the Senate by her father, who resigned his seat in December 2002 to become governor of Alaska. She completed her father's unexpired Senate term, which ended in January 2005, and became the first Alaskan-born member of Congress.
