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WASILLA, Alaska — <\/span>It\u2019s a long way from Washington, has a small population and hasn’t backed a Democrat for Senate in nearly 20 years. <\/p>\n Yet President Donald Trump<\/a> on Tuesday devoted a big chunk of his dwindling time ahead of crucial midterm elections<\/a> to head to Alaska \u2014 attempting to bolster a Republican incumbent senator in another sign of GOP fears about retaining control of Congress after Election Day on Nov. 3<\/a>.<\/p>\n Trump headlined a rally for Sen. Dan Sullivan<\/a> in Wasilla, about 45 miles (72 kilometers) north of Anchorage \u2014 famous for being the hometown of former Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin<\/a> and the headquarters of the Iditarod sled dog race across the state.<\/p>\n Trump’s stop is part of a western swing also taking him to rallies in Arizona and Montana on Wednesday.<\/p>\n The president noted to the crowd that he had flown eight hours to rally for Sullivan, whom he called \u201cone of the best and most respected senators in D.C.\u201d Sullivan, seeking a third term, faces Democrat Mary Peltola<\/a>, a former congresswoman who is running to put \u201cAlaska first\u201d and emphasizing cost-of-living issues. <\/p>\n During Tuesday’s rally, Trump announced that Taiwan would purchase gas from a proposed mega-gas project that he has been highlighting amid Sullivan’s campaign and that it would invest more than $4 billion. There was no immediate confirmation from Taiwan, the self-governing island that China claims as its own. The White House did not immediately provide further details.<\/p>\n Trump also said the Federal Communications Commission would vote in the coming weeks on investing an additional $162 million in expanding high-speed internet access in Alaska. And he announced pardons for two men who had pleaded guilty in 2022 to Clean Air Act violations for tampering with federally mandated monitoring devices on certain vehicles.<\/p>\n Democrats last won a Senate seat in Alaska in 2008, and the state hasn\u2019t elected a governor from that party since 1998. The only time Alaska didn\u2019t vote Republican for president was during Lyndon B. Johnson\u2019s landslide 1964 reelection.<\/p>\n Yet high gasoline prices<\/a> from the Iran war<\/a> and persistently elevated inflation<\/a> have damaged Trump\u2019s approval ratings<\/a> enough to leave Democrats dreaming of Alaska upsets.<\/p>\n Alaska pollster Ivan Moore said he’s seen a decline in Trump’s support statewide that mirrors the president’s falling approval ratings nationally<\/a>. That means the Senate race may be decided by Trump 2024 voters who are now unsure they still back him. <\/p>\n \u201cThe visit is certainly appropriate. Whether the visit will be effective or not is another matter,” said Moore, who said when he first heard that Trump would visit Alaska, he didn’t believe it would actually happen.<\/p>\n The Trump administration has prioritized expanding oil and gas drilling<\/a> in the state. Vice President JD Vance<\/a> last week campaigned in Fairbanks for Sullivan and Republican Rep. Nick Begich.<\/p>\n Sullivan recently joined Trump in the Oval Office, where the president announced a $54 billion investment by South Korea’s government<\/a> into the proposed Alaska gas project. That’s despite South Korea saying the deal, and its total value, haven’t been finalized.<\/p>\n Versions of a gas project have been proposed in Alaska for decades.<\/p>\n Trump trekking four time zones west to get to Sullivan\u2019s home turf \u2014 an unusually long trip so close to the midterms \u2014 is his strongest show of support for the incumbent.<\/p>\n Alaska is home to around 740,000 people, making it slightly less populous than Denver. It ranks 48th out of 50 states in population, smaller than all but Vermont and Wyoming. <\/p>\n Trump nonetheless headlined a 2022 rally in Anchorage opposing Republican Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski<\/a> after she voted to convict him on a charge of incitement of insurrection during his second impeachment trial<\/a>, following the attack on the U.S. Capitol<\/a> by a mob of his supporters on Jan. 6, 2021.<\/p>\n Trump endorsed Kelly Tshibaka, who challenged Murkowski that year, but that didn’t stop incumbent Murkowski from winning reelection. <\/p>\n In Wasilla, Max Christensen was waiting in line for the rally and said he hoped to hear more specifics from Trump about the natural gas project, and said he was \u201creally curious just to see how he\u2019s going to handle things like inflation and gas prices and things like that.\u201d<\/p>\n Christensen, 22, said he thinks Trump has been a great president \u201cdespite all his flaws and stuff,” adding, \u201cI think he really does genuinely care about the people of the United States of America.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump has complained about Alaska\u2019s unique elections system. The state has open primaries, in which the four top vote-getters \u2014 regardless of party affiliation \u2014 advance to the general election, which uses ranked choice voting.<\/p>\n That’s led to a scenario where there also will be another Dan Sullivan<\/a> on the November ballot: retired teacher Dan J. Sullivan, whom Trump and other allies of Sen. Sullivan have called a sham candidate. Dan J. Sullivan has denied this, but Trump continued to hammer the other Sullivan at his rally.<\/p>\n \u201cThey found a guy named Dan Sullivan, they put him up to get things a little confused,\u201d Trump said, as he repeatedly urged his supporters to vote for \u201cthe real Dan Sullivan.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump also touted Begich<\/a>, who is facing a competitive challenge from Bill Hill, an independent.<\/p>\n Alaska has a history of rewarding candidates with an independent streak \u2014 something Vance acknowledged during his trip to Fairbanks last week.<\/p>\n “In very deep red years, Alaska is competitive. In very deep blue \u200byears, Alaska is still competitive,\u201d Vance said. \u201cI think it\u2019s just a reality of the politics of the \u200cstate.\u201d <\/p>\n Independence has been hard to find in the Republican Party, where Trump for years has had total control<\/a>. Some Republicans facing tough elections have begun tiptoeing away from the president<\/a> on key issues such as Iran and tariffs, but not Sullivan, who has been vocal in supporting both.<\/p>\n Trump also questioned why three Republicans were running against a Democrat for governor and endorsed Bernadette Wilson, who finished third in the August primary but was the top vote-getting Republican. This came at the same time state GOP leaders \u2014 including outgoing Gov. Mike Dunleavy \u2014 are urging voters to rank Republicans on the ballot.<\/p>\n Many Republicans \u2014 despite reservations with ranked voting \u2014 have seen a ranking strategy in that race as crucial for Republicans trying to win the seat.<\/p>\n Trump has also triggered a trade war with Canada<\/a>, which shares a 1,500-plus-mile (2,450-kilometer) border with Alaska and is among the state’s most important trading partners<\/a>. <\/p>\n The U.S. banned nearly $1 billion<\/a> worth of imports from its neighbor \u2014 including alcoholic beverages, dairy products and motorcycles \u2014 after previously imposing 50% tariffs on about $20 billion in Canadian products. Canada has responded with reciprocal bans and its own import levies, and the back-and-forth could raise prices for Alaska consumers.<\/p>\n Making Canada an enemy of sorts is “discomforting” for many Alaskans, said pollster Moore.<\/p>\n \u201cWe associate, I think, probably more closely with the Canadians \u2014 more than a lot of the Lower 48,”<\/a> he said.<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n Associated Press writers Michelle L. Price and Seung Min Kim in Washington and Nicholas Riccardi in Denver contributed to this report.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n