President Donald Trump plans to hold a rally in Wasilla next Tuesday to promote the reelection of U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan, according to the Republican National Committee.
Trump is scheduled to speak at 3:30 p.m. at the Menard Sports Center. The doors to the room open at noon.
“President Trump’s rally on October 13 will highlight exactly why Senator Dan S. Sullivan is the firewall to defend Alaska’s future against the Lower 48 Left,” RNC spokesman Nick Poche said via email.
This is the second White House election campaign in Alaska in just over a week. Vice President JD Vance rallied to Sullivan in Fairbanks on Monday.
Polls showed the Republican incumbent president faces fierce competition from Democrat Mary Peltola. A survey published Wednesdayby Alaska Survey Research, gives the former congresswoman a two percentage point lead in the first round, with only top picks counted, and winning by the same margin after ranked choice tabulations.
“The race continues to be close with Peltola leading every time,” pollster Ivan Moore said in a social media post. His latest poll came a week after a New York Times article described Peltola as prone to angry outbursts directed at staff and using derogatory slurs. Moore said the story didn’t have a major impact.
The Alaska race is one of seven Senate contests now considered a toss-up. Democrats would need to win four and maintain their advantages in other states to take control of the Senate.
Wasilla is one of most Republican areas of the state. Sullivan won the region by wide margins in the open August primary, although he finished 8 percentage points behind Peltola statewide.
The venue is small for a Trump rally. The Town of Wasilla website said the arena seats 3,000 for hockey matches, or 3,500 for concerts.
Trump held an event at Butler High School in Vandalia, Ohio, last weekend. The student activity center has a listed capacity of 4,500.
The Wasilla event will be Trump’s second political rally in Alaska. His first, at the 5,000-seat Alaska Airlines Center in Anchorage, was to promote Kelly Tshibaka to the U.S. Senate and former Gov. Sarah Palin to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2022. In November of that year, Tshibaka lost to Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Palin lost to Peltola.
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