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GOP senator says she'll keep criticizing DOGE even if Elon Musk spends 'the next billion dollars that he makes off of Starlink' against her

Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska is one of the biggest DOGE critics among GOP senators.
On Tuesday, she said Elon Musk may come after her as a result.
She also says her GOP colleagues don't speak up because they're afraid of primaries.

DOGE's top GOP critic in the Senate isn't intimidated by Elon Musk.

That's the message that Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska conveyed in a press conference in Juneau on Tuesday, telling reporters that she could see the billionaire businessman spend money backing a challenger when she's up for reelection in 2028.

"It may be that Elon Musk has decided he's going to take the next billion dollars that he makes off of Starlink and put it directly against Lisa Murkowski," the Alaska senator said, referring to herself in the third person. "And you know what? That may happen. But I'm not giving up one minute, one opportunity, to try to stand up for Alaskans."

Murkowski, a frequent critic of President Donald Trump, also said her GOP colleagues are largely silent on any criticisms they may have of his administration because they fear political blowback.

"They're looking at how many things are being thrown at me, and it's like, 'maybe I just better duck and cover,'" Murkowski said. "That's why you've got everybody just like, zip-lip, not saying a word, because they're afraid they're going to be taken down, they're going to be primaried."

The Alaska senator has been a frequent critic of DOGE. In February, she said that the cost-cutting effort was creating a "tremendous amount of unnecessary anxiety," and she has criticized the firing of federal workers in Alaska numerous times. In an address to the Alaska state legislature on Tuesday, she reiterated her concerns.

"These terminations are indiscriminate, and many, we're now learning, are unlawful. And they're being made regardless of performance and with little understanding of the function and the value of each position," Murkowski said. "So at any human level, they're traumatizing people, and they're leaving holes in our communities."

Murkowski has a bit more breathing room to criticize Trump and DOGE than other GOP senators. She's not up for reelection next year, and she beat back a Trump-backed primary challenger in 2022, in part with the help of the state's unique ranked-choice voting system.

Still, the threat of Musk's wealth hangs over any GOP lawmaker who might consider criticizing Trump or DOGE. He has said that his super PAC, America PAC, will "play a significant role in primaries" going forward and acknowledged that he's open to supporting primary bids against Republicans who don't support Trump's agenda.

"How else?" Musk wrote in November. "There is no other way."

He has even made that threat against Democratic lawmakers, leading one to laugh it off.