Dan Sullivan is taking well-deserved heat for breaking his pledge to donate campaign contributions tied to the scandal-plagued Pebble Mine project — and now he’s literally running from the fallout.
New reporting rakes Sullivan over the coals for “flee(ing)” a public forum last week after an attendee asked point-blank: “Why did you break your pledge to return the money you took from the Pebble Mine CEO?”
Sullivan responded, “Gotta run,” and “disappeared.”
Sullivan has also dodged questions from reporters, refusing to answer Alaska Public Media’s inquiry about his broken promise. His evasion comes after reporting exposed his “long relationship of advocacy” for Pebble Mine and his insidious financial ties to the project — including pocketing Pebble-tied campaign contributions he promised to donate and continuing to rake in cash from the current Pebble CEO as recently as February.
Alaskans widely oppose Pebble Mine because of the catastrophic threat it poses to Bristol Bay, home to the world’s largest sockeye salmon fishery and the fishermen and communities that depend on it.
Raw Story: ‘Gotta run!’ Senate Republican Flees Forum When Confronted on Broken Promise
April 20, 2026
Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) had a simple answer when a constituent confronted him about a broken campaign promise at a public forum this month — he ran.
Sullivan was wrapping up a Zoom session at ComFish, Alaska’s commercial fishing conference, when someone on the call put him on the spot.
“Hey Senator, do you have a second for one more question?” asked Jacob Carlson.
“Nope, I’ve got to run, I’ve got a 5 o’clock press conference. And I’ve got to prepare for it,” Sullivan said.
“Oh but why did you break your pledge to return the money you took from the Pebble Mine CEO?” Carlson asked.
Sullivan’s response was swift.
“I gotta run. Thanks!” he said — and disappeared.
“Why did you break your pledge? To return the money?” Carlson demanded to know.
But the senator had already left.
In 2020, Sullivan pledged to donate all campaign contributions from Pebble Mine’s then-CEO Tom Collier to charity after secret recordings surfaced of Collier bragging that he had Sullivan “sitting over in a corner and being quiet.” Sullivan called Collier’s behavior “unethical practices.”
Sullivan is still accepting contributions from Pebble’s current CEO John Shively, who gave $500 in December and another $500 in February.