Peltola campaign pledges to work with Trump on Alaska energy
President Donald Trump traveled to Wasilla, Alaska, on Tuesday to bolster Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan’s re-election bid, telling a packed auditorium about 45 miles (72 kilometers) north of Anchorage that the incumbent was “one of the best and most respected senators in DC.”
“On November 3, we’re going to send one of the best and most respected senators in DC Dan Sullivan, the real Dan Sullivan,” Trump said, urging the audience to reject “the fake Dan Sullivan,” whom he said was “put up by” Democrats. “That’s just cheating. They’re terrible,” Trump added. “They found a guy named Dan Sullivan, they put him up to get a little confused.”
The similarly named challenger, retired schoolteacher Daniel Sullivan, won 2.5% of the vote in the August primary as a Republican. Trump said that share was “a lot” and “too much,” adding “that could be the difference.” The incumbent Dan Sullivan has accused his namesake of colluding with Democrats to split the Republican vote to Peltola’s advantage.
Trump also used the rally to attack Alaska’s ranked-choice voting system, which voters approved in a 2020 referendum and which allows voters to rank up to five candidates. Trump called the method “a scam” and voiced support for a November ballot measure to repeal it. The incumbent will appear on the November 3 ballot with the designation “(Registered Republican) Incumbent” next to his name.
In remarks before Trump took the stage, Sullivan accused Peltola of planning to undermine Alaska’s oil and gas industry, a sector that remains central to the state’s economy even as production has declined since its late-1980s peak. “Joe Biden, [Chuck] Schumer, their Democratic allies came after Alaska with a barrage of executive orders to shut down our state, kill jobs, drive up the cost of energy,” Sullivan said. “And my opponent, Mary Peltola, not only did nothing to stop it, she enabled it.”
In a statement, a Peltola campaign spokesperson said the Democratic challenger “looks forward to working with President Trump to unleash Alaska energy and lower costs … when she’s elected to the United States Senate.” The same statement said Sullivan “continues to feel the fallout of his failed policies and support for the war in Iran,” while Peltola spent Tuesday talking with voters in Kotzebue, in northwest Alaska, “about how she will fight to lower their costs (and) take on DC corruption.”
Peltola won a 2022 special election to the US House following the death of longtime Republican congressman Don Young, then won a full term later that year. She was defeated in 2024 by Republican Nick Begich, who is seeking re-election to the House this year. Recent polls show Peltola and the incumbent running close in a state that supported Trump by a wide margin in 2024 and has not elected a Democrat to the Senate since 2008.