Former President Donald Trump endorsed Kelly Tshibaka for U.S. Senate, former Gov. Sarah Palin for U.S. House, and incumbent Gov. Mike Dunleavy for reelection during his remarks at Saturday's rally in Anchorage.
Margaret Borges (left), 15, and Noelle Davidson, 17, were among more than 5,000 supporters of former President Donald Trump who gathered Saturday in Anchorage for a political rally featuring Trump and Alaska Republican candidates.
In front of more than 5,000 cheering supporters in Anchorage on Saturday, former President Donald Trump fulfilled a year-old promise to campaign in Alaska against incumbent U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, one of seven Republicans who voted in favor of his impeachment following the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection that targeted Congress.
With a 90-minute speech that included a story about a trip to Iraq, conversations with foreign leaders and his thoughts on a variety of issues, Trump endorsed Murkowski's lead Republican challenger, Kelly Tshibaka, in this year's U.S. Senate election.
Trump also endorsed former Gov. Sarah Palin - a longtime Trump supporter - for Alaska's sole U.S. House seat and incumbent Gov. Mike Dunleavy, who is seeking reelection.
"She's by far the worst," said Trump of Murkowski, who voted in favor of impeaching the then president for his role in the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol.
"She voted to impeach me, and I did more for this state than any president in history. She wanted to impeach me!" Trump said.
Trump also criticized Alaska's other U.S. senator, Dan Sullivan, for endorsing Murkowski and said he should be ashamed.
The former president highlighted policy moves popular with the audience, including the opening of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling and a border permit for a proposed Alaska-Alberta railroad.
Only the state and two small companies bid on the lease sale, and one of the private-sector bidders later relinquished its leases. The other private company to win a lease was a real estate company. The ANWR leases were canceled by the Biden administration, which is subject to ongoing lawsuits.
The company behind the railroad project that Trump touted at Saturday's rally at the Alaska Airlines Center on the University of Alaska Anchorage campus has filed for creditor protection after Canadian investigators found financial irregularities.
Trump summed up his policy positions with a line that received loud applause: "I'm in favor of guns, God and oil," he said.
Murkowski spent the day on the Kenai Peninsula, meeting constituents in Kenai and Soldotna, an aide said. Saturday was the opening of the Kenai River's dipnet fishery.
Tshibaka delivered a speech before Trump took the stage, then shared time on the stage with the former president after his late arrival from an event in Nevada.
Patricia Chesbro, the leading Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, said she intended to attend a pride festival in Palmer and a pro-choice rally in Anchorage. That rally was one of several planned for locations across Alaska on Saturday afternoon.
Aside from Trump, Tshibaka drew the largest cheers from an audience whose members waved Tshibaka signs and wore stickers with her name.
Palin, seeking election to the U.S. House to replace the late Rep. Don Young, drew only slightly less applause than Tshibaka. Speaking to the crowd, she said this fall's elections "are no longer Democrat versus Republican. This is all about control versus freedom. This is good versus evil."
Palin faces Democratic candidate Mary Peltola in the race for U.S. House and fellow Republican candidate Nick Begich, who finished second behind Palin in the June 11 special U.S. House primary election.
Begich stayed away from Saturday's rally, instead attending events across Anchorage.
Palin, Begich and Peltola are the finalists in the special U.S. House election that will take place Aug. 16. The winner of that election will finish Young's term. All three are also running for a full two-year term, which will be decided in November.
Trump's third significant endorsement was of incumbent Dunleavy, who is seeking reelection, but Dunleavy wasn't at the rally. Trump had previously said he would endorse Dunleavy as long as Dunleavy did not endorse Murkowski.
A spokesman for the governor said he was flying out of the state on state business. Andrew Jensen, a spokesman for the governor's campaign and a member of the governor's state communications team, said Dunleavy had intended to meet Trump privately before leaving the state, but Trump arrived late and that meeting didn't take place.
Palin and Tshibaka each had tables distributing campaign merchandise and advertisements playing on the arena's screens. Dunleavy did not.
When Trump announced his support of Dunleavy, that statement received a mixture of cheers and boos, the only time the audience voiced anything but wholehearted support for the president's words.
Saturday's appearance was Trump's most significant visit to Alaska after several stopovers on Air Force One during his time in office.
The AlaskaBeacon.com is a donor-funded independent news organization in Alaska.
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