People cheer for Donald Trump as he speaks during a rally at the Alaska Airlines Center on Saturday. (Bill Roth/ADN)
Former President Donald Trump spoke for more than 90 minutes at a rally in Anchorage on Saturday in support of Republican U.S. House candidate Sarah Palin and U.S. Senate candidate Kelly Chibaka.
“I’m here for two reasons: to support great candidates and to fulfill my promise to Alaska,” Trump said, referring to his promise to campaign against incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who voted to impeach him and is running for re-election this year.
Trump took the stage at the Alaska Airlines Center around 4:30 p.m., noted what a special place Alaska is — “I’ve heard for years that there’s no more beautiful place, and I agree” — then launched into attacks on Murkowski. But most of his lengthy speech was devoted to attacking Democrats and glorifying his time as president.
He called Chibaka, who is challenging Murkowski, “wonderful” and former Gov. Palin “legendary.” He called Murkowski “worse than a RINO,” referring to so-called Republicans by name only.
Trump also praised Gov. Mike Dunleavy, who is running for re-election, calling him “great.” But Dunleavy did not attend or meet with Trump during his brief visit to Alaska, Dunleavy campaign spokesman Andrew Jensen said. Trump said he would support Dunleavy as long as Dunleavy did not support Murkowski.
In his lengthy remarks, Trump celebrated recent US Supreme Court decisions, including the one that struck down the abortion protections guaranteed in Roe v. Wade; attacked Democratic President Joe Biden; exalted his own time of service; and repeatedly took aim at Murkowski, who has broken with his party on several occasions to oppose Trump.
Donald J. Trump speaks to supporters gathered for a rally at the Alaska Airlines Center on Saturday, July 9, 2022 (Bill Roth/ADN)
“Last week we had a lot of success in a lot of ways at a place called the Supreme Court,” Trump said.
“On guns, on religious freedom, on the environment, on Roe v. Wade. It was a big win,” Trump said to cheers. “We did it.”
Trump nominated three of the six justices who were in the majority upholding the ruling that overturned the landmark 1973 Roe decision that protected abortion access nationwide.
Murkowski received more mentions than Trump-endorsed candidates because Trump repeatedly attacked her.
“This is your precious chance to dump the appalling RINO Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who is worse than a Democrat,” Trump said. “She is a complete creature of the Washington Swamp and a tool of a corrupt elite the likes of which we have never seen.”
A spokesman for Murkowski’s campaign responded in a written statement, saying Murkowski “has a proven track record of putting politics aside and delivering results for Alaska.”
“It’s unfortunate that Lisa Murkowski’s political opponents continue to try to deceive Alaskans by misrepresenting her strong, demonstrated track record of getting the job done in the Senate,” said spokesman Shea Siegert.
Trump also took aim at Alaska’s other U.S. senator, Republican Dan Sullivan, for supporting Murkowski’s re-election campaign.
“Murkowski is a bad person and Dan Sullivan should never have supported her,” Trump said. “Dan Sullivan should be ashamed of himself.”
Trump criticized ranked-choice voting, saying it “could be crooked as hell.” The new voting system was approved by Alaska voters in 2020 and is being implemented for the first time this year in a special U.S. House race.
“We’re stuck with this. You know why? Because of Murkowski. That’s the only way she’s going to win,” Trump said. The architects of the new electoral system said it would favor more moderate candidates.
[Photos: Trump appears at Anchorage rally]
Rally-goers began lining up outside the Alaska Airlines Center in the early hours of Saturday. Music, food trucks and vendors selling Trump merchandise gave the event the feel of a festival rather than a political rally, and several attendees said they came to see Trump, not support the Alaska candidates.
People wait in line to join the Donald Trump rally July 9, 2022 at the Alaska Airlines Center on the UAA campus. (Anne Raup / ADN)
Jerry Gamez and his wife Christina — a retired couple from Anchorage — paid $250 each to skip the line and secure their spots in the crowd. Eddie Erickson and Ty Saylor, 18, of Soldotna, said they drove together to Anchorage Friday night so they could get in line at 5 a.m. Saturday.
“If we don’t get more conservative politicians, our country is gone,” said Vicki Clay, who lives in Anchorage and is retired from the Alaska Air National Guard. She and her husband also paid $250 each to cut the line. Much of the money raised during Trump’s visit benefited the Palin and Chibaka campaigns.
When Trump took the stage, almost every seat in the arena, which has a capacity of 5,000 people, was full.
The rally drew prominent Republican state lawmakers — including House Minority Leader Kathy Tilton of Wasilla and Reps. Kevin McCabe of Big Lake and Sarah Vance of Homer — along with local officials such as Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson and the deputy public library director of Anchorage Judy Norton Elledge .
“It’s almost emotional to see people come together,” Bronson said in an interview before Trump spoke, adding that he “would like to see Donald Trump as president.”
“His politics were the best politics for this country and this state that I’ve ever seen in my lifetime,” Bronson said. “I know he annoys a lot of people, but that’s okay, that’s his nature. In Alaska, we thrived under Donald Trump, and why anyone would oppose his efforts, especially here in Alaska, is beyond me.
Former President Donald Trump speaks to supporters gathered at a rally at the Alaska Airlines Center on Saturday. (Bill Roth/ADN)
The view that Trump has been the best president for Alaska is shared, unsurprisingly, by Trump himself, who has said he has “done more for Alaska than any president has ever done.” But he made several false statements about the state.
The former president claimed that Murkowski had “destroyed ANWR”. But in 2017, a measure Murkowski created passed Congress, opening up parts of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. This measure was signed into law by Trump and the oil contracts were sold during the Trump administration. Biden stopped oil and gas drilling when he was elected, but Murkowski has consistently supported oil and gas development in the area.
Trump said “I got you Cove Road or whatever the hell they call it,” referring to a controversial road to King Cove that would go through a national wildlife preserve. The road has not been built, despite efforts by Trump’s Interior Department, along with Murkowski and others, to move the project forward.
Trump also touted his mining service road permit to the Ambler mine. The controversial road plan is being revised by the Biden administration.
Doors to the rally opened at 11 a.m., but a line of people waiting to enter the arena was still wrapped around the building when Anchorage Chief Equity Officer Uluao “Junior” Aumae led the crowd in the Pledge of Allegiance shortly before 2 p.m. o’clock
A man rides his bicycle through an intersection while blasting music from a loudspeaker as people wait in line to be let into the Alaska Airlines Center. (Emily Messner/ADN)
People continued to pour into the building as Palin and Chibaka took the stage. Both candidates wasted no time attacking their opponents.
“I know the good old boys club and too many RINOs are part of it,” Palin said. She then called out her Republican opponent in the U.S. House race, Nick Begich, who said he voted for former Anchorage Democratic mayoral candidate Ethan Berkowitz in 2015. Begich said he voted for Trump in 2016 and in 2020.
Democrat Mary Peltola is also on the special election ballot to fill the vacant U.S. House seat, along with several other candidates for the August general election primary.
Former Gov. Sarah Palin, who is running for the U.S. House of Representatives, takes the stage to speak during a rally at the Alaska Airlines Center on Saturday. (Bill Roth/ADN)
Palin drew a standing ovation from the crowd, which chanted “hit, baby, run!” — a phrase Palin repeated on Saturday dating back to 2008, when Palin was a vice presidential candidate. But there is no consensus among the Alaska Republican Party on Palin. Conservative Anchorage Mayor Bronson and state House Minority Leader Tilton declined to say whether they would vote for Palin, although they said they would support Chibaka.
Palin embraced her identity as an outsider to the party, drawing a connection between her experience and that of Trump and his supporters.
“We were mocked, ridiculed and falsely accused and told to sit down and shut up,” she said. “The things you have heard about me are lies. I am much worse than what you have heard.
Chibaka, the former Dunleavy-appointed commissioner of the Alaska Department of Administration, devoted his 10 minutes on stage to comparing himself to incumbent Murkowski. Trump vowed to campaign against Murkowski after she was one of seven US Senate Republicans who voted to impeach him following the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
“This Senate seat is often the deciding vote that can affect the rest of the nation,” Chibaka said. Murkowski is known for her willingness to buck the party line on key issues, including access to abortion, judicial nominations and gun control.
“It’s time for a change,” Chibaka said over and over.
U.S. Senate candidate Kelly Chibaka joined Donald Trump on stage during a rally at the Alaska Airlines Center on Saturday. (Bill Roth/ADN)
Murkowski was scheduled to meet with constituents in Kenai and Soldotna on…
Add Comment