By: James Brooks, Alaska Beacon
During a lengthy, meandering series of remarks last week, President Donald Trump offered another hint that his administration may seek to disrupt Alaska’s U.S. Senate election.
Fairbanks political writer Dermot Cole first noted Trump’s remarks.
On Aug. 18, NBC News — relying on unnamed sources — reported that the U.S. Department of Justice had issued grand jury subpoenas as it sought to investigate the campaign of Republican candidate Dan J. Sullivan of Petersburg.
The Alaska Beacon has been unable to verify that reporting, but on Sept. 2, Trump alluded to a possible investigation.
Dan J. Sullivan has repeatedly said his campaign was inspired by his dissatisfaction with incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Dan S. Sullivan, and that he did not work with officials from Democratic candidate Mary Peltola’s campaign on his initial run for office.
Despite that, Trump and Dan S. Sullivan have repeatedly claimed — without providing evidence — that Dan J. Sullivan is a fraudulent candidate.
On Sept. 2, speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said he would travel to Alaska before the Nov. 3 general election in order to campaign for Dan S. Sullivan.
Hours later, talking with Republican lawmakers at a dinner in the Rose Garden, Trump again brought up the Alaska race.
“I’m going to go up to Alaska for Dan Sullivan. Think of it,” Trump said. “They have a man named Dan Sullivan running against him, the Democrats.”
“I think, Todd, you have a legal case on that,” the President said, referring to Attorney General Todd Blanche.
The U.S. Senate confirmed Blanche by a 50-49 margin on Aug. 8. Sen. Dan S. Sullivan was one of the decisive votes in favor of confirmation.
In the August primary election, Democratic candidate Mary Peltola had 49.5% of the vote, Dan S. Sullivan had 41.4%, and Dan J. Sullivan had 2.5% of the vote.
Under Alaska’s election system, the top four candidates advance to the November general election. The fourth-place finisher in the primary, Democratic candidate David Leslie, withdrew after the results were finalized, which advanced the fifth-place finisher, Gerald Heikes, who had 1.1% of the vote.
Trump, speaking on Sept. 2, said that even though Dan J. Sullivan had only 2.5% of the vote, his appearance on the November ballot could be decisive in a close contest between Peltola and Dan J. Sullivan.
“Let’s say he takes two or three points away. That’s the difference between winning and losing. It should be illegal. I don’t know how the judges are ruling (on) it, but it really is terrible,” Trump said.
Dan J. Sullivan did not immediately respond to an inquiry from the Beacon about the President’s remarks, but after the publication of this article, he answered by email: “I will not let President Trump’s threats of retribution force me out of this race. I’m running to give a voice to the Alaskans who voted for me and to honor the intent of our ranked choice voting system.”
Editor’s note: This article was updated on Sept. 9, 2026, at 9:03 a.m. with a response from Dan J. Sullivan.
