Trump's thousand-mile effort to save a senate seat in Alaska

Trump traveled over 5,400 km to Alaska to campaign for a republican candidate in an effort to retain a senate seat there, amid his declining approval ratings.

President Donald Trump journeyed more than 5,400 km from Washington to Wasilla, Alaska, on 13/10, to campaign for Republican Senator Dan Sullivan. This significant effort underscores the high stakes for the Republican Party in the upcoming midterm elections on 3/11, particularly in Alaska, which has become a crucial battleground for maintaining their Senate majority.

Alaska is one of seven battleground states where Republican candidates face fierce competition from Democratic opponents. With Republican prospects narrowing in North Carolina and Georgia, the race for the Senate seat in Alaska has gained heightened importance. The president's visit highlights the party's urgent need for a victory in the state to secure control of the Senate.

Trump's political team has reportedly shifted its focus from winning over swing voters, who helped him return to the White House in 2024, to mobilizing loyal supporters in Republican strongholds such as Alaska. Trump previously won Alaska in the 2024 presidential election by over 13 percentage points. However, in this year's midterm election, incumbent Republican Senator Dan Sullivan is trailing Democratic challenger Mary Peltola, making Alaska a key battleground that could determine the election's outcome.

At the 13/10 rally in Wasilla, the crowd cheered as President Trump took the stage. He urged attendees to "act as if" his name was on the midterm ballot and to vote for the Republican candidates he had publicly endorsed. Trump specifically called for support for Dan Sullivan, incumbent Representative Nick Begich, and Bernadette Wilson, a gubernatorial candidate he had just endorsed that day. "Vote for Dan, vote for Nick. Vote for a very wonderful female governor," Trump stated.

During his speech, Trump repeatedly addressed the conflict with Iran, explaining his decision to launch the conflict to halt Tehran's nuclear program. He promised an abundant oil supply would soon return. "The conflict will end very quickly. And when that happens, commodity prices will drop sharply. Prices are already falling now," he said.

Dismissing the economic challenges many Americans report facing, the president asserted that incomes were at historic highs, the stock market was strong, and poverty rates had decreased. "Today you are earning more money than ever before," Trump said.

President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Wasilla, Alaska on 13/10. Photo: AP

The rally also featured symbolic gestures. Trump invited two Wasilla men, who had been prosecuted by the President Joe Biden administration for violating the Clean Air Act, onto the stage and signed pardons for them. Additionally, he welcomed Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr, who announced a planned investment of over 160 million USD to expand high-speed internet in Alaska, a piece of news that received enthusiastic applause from the crowd.

Support for Trump among Alaskans is mixed. Doug Glenn, 61, an aviation company owner in Palmer, attended the rally wearing a Trump shirt. He expressed concerns about rising fuel prices, noting that "everything here is expensive" since the Covid-19 pandemic. A loyal Trump supporter, Glenn believes the Iran conflict will end soon and voiced his only dissatisfaction with Trump's term: that the US did not crush Iran in the initial attacks. He dismissed reports of Trump's declining approval ratings nationwide, calling such polls unreliable. Loyal supporters like Glenn are the key demographic Trump and the Republican Party need to secure the Senate seat in Alaska.

Eva Herner, 75, wearing a "Make America Great Again" hat, was visibly moved to meet President Trump for the first time. "He loves our country. That's what's important," she said. Glenn, for his part, expressed disinterest in Trump's Washington building projects, such as grand banquet halls and triumphal arches, which were priorities for the US leader this year. He criticized the nearly one billion USD spent on former President Barack Obama's new presidential center, arguing that such a personal project diverted resources while some Alaskans lacked basic necessities.

President Donald Trump at a campaign event in Wasilla, Alaska on 13/10. Photo: AFP

However, not all Alaskans share this sentiment. Sara Mitchell, 35, who has lived in her car for the past three months, once admired Trump's political style. She now believes that neither the president nor most other elected officials will genuinely improve the lives of struggling individuals like herself. Consequently, she does not intend to vote in the upcoming midterm elections. "Many of the promises he made have not come true," she stated.

The rally also drew criticism from local Democratic groups. Eric Croft, chairman of the Alaska Democratic Party, mocked Trump's choice of a smaller venue compared to the 5,000-seat Alaska Airlines Center, where Trump previously rallied in 2022. Croft noted that both candidates Trump endorsed at that time, Kelly Tshibaka for the Senate and Sarah Palin for the House, were unsuccessful. "They brought him to what they hoped was the safest place possible, the strongest Republican-leaning area they could find in this region," Croft commented.

James Muller, a retired political science professor, finds the outcome of the Alaska Senate race difficult to predict, partly due to the state's notoriously unreliable polls. Nevertheless, Republicans typically hold an advantage in federal elections in Alaska. This is because the state's economy, heavily reliant on resource extraction—a sector strongly supported by the Republican Party—often faces challenges under Democratic administrations. The cost of living in Alaska remains high, particularly in remote villages without roads, where essential goods must be transported by air. "I think people are somewhat worried about the economy, but they don't tend to blame Trump as much as people elsewhere in the country," Muller said.