New reporting is calling out Dan Sullivan’s hypocrisy as he has steadily backed tariffs and the price-hiking war in Iran, providing no solutions or relief for Alaskans while he pads his own pockets.
The Anchorage Daily News reported that “Sullivan has steadily backed the president’s tariffs and the Iran war, key contributors to high inflation” as the prices of “diesel and heating fuel have hit record highs with winter coming, while bills for health insurance, utilities, consumer goods, rents and mortgages keep rising.”
Tim Brennan, IBEW Local 1547, said that his fellow union members are struggling with the costs of “simply living” and that “Working families of the Interior must make difficult choices,” he said. “Do I put money away for my kids’ education? Or do I use it to keep the heat on? These aren’t abstract numbers, these are the real decisions being made by Alaska families.”
Read more about Dan Sullivan’s price-hiking agenda that’s hurting Alaska families:
October 24, 2026
By: Alex DeMarban
Soaring energy prices and bills are voters’ top concern, polls show, leaving Sullivan — who is seeking his third term — potentially vulnerable as the incumbent.
The toss-up race has seen record levels of spending, with Democrats eyeing the seat as one of four they hope to pick up to regain control of the Senate.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump, an ally of Sullivan, is fighting desperately to keep Sullivan in power. Trump and Vice President JD Vance have both stumped in Alaska for the senator while Trump ordered his administration to file a lawsuit Thursday to challenge the election results if Sullivan loses.
Critics point out that Sullivan has steadily backed the president’s tariffs and the Iran war, key contributors to high inflation.
Sullivan argues that more Alaska energy production, something Trump has aggressively backed, is the answer to lowering costs, though analysts argue that’s generally a long-term solution that won’t yield quick results. He declined to participate in an interview for this story.
Analysts have called the midterms a referendum on Trump, who said during his recent campaign rally in Wasilla that critics complaining about affordability are “stupid people.”
Still, voters are very aware of their financial hardship, said Todd Belt, a professor at George Washington University’s Graduate School of Political Management.
They also know that Trump has failed to fix inflation as promised, he said.
In Alaska, prices for diesel and heating fuel have hit record highs with winter coming, while bills for health insurance, utilities, consumer goods, rents and mortgages keep rising.
“People don’t like it when you tell them things are good and they know it’s not,” Belt said, noting that Biden did that and his Democratic Party paid the price in 2024.
“This isn’t like any other policy issue because people know how much money they have in their bank accounts, they know what they’re spending on gasoline, and they go to the grocery store,” he said.
“You can’t out-message the economy for people when it comes to prices,” Belt said.
Meanwhile, another controversial Trump policy — cuts to the federal workforce under DOGE, or the Department of Government Efficiency — has contributed to a soft labor market and, starting this year, declining wages in Alaska, said Brett Watson, an economist with the University of Alaska system.
Consumers and voters are “really honed in” on rising prices right now, he said.
Peltola, for her part, has argued that she supports more oil and gas development in Alaska, and played a key role in getting ConocoPhillips’ huge Willow project approved under Biden.
Sullivan also cites the Alaska LNG megaproject, which Peltola also says she supports, as another opportunity for Alaska. But it’s unclear if the project will ever be built after similar efforts have failed for generations.
Though Sullivan has supported the tariffs, his brother Frank Sullivan, CEO of the family’s company, RPM International, described the impacts of tariffs, the war in Iran and the more than 40-day government shutdown in 2025 as contributors to instability that have impacted the company — and led to an increase in prices, according to The New York Times.
Sullivan also points out the federal Department of Energy has announced a $150 million investment to improve the state’s Railbelt electrical grid with construction of a 223-mile transmission line from Beluga to Healy.
That’s another project that will take years to complete. It also requires an additional $268 million in matching grants, from as-yet-unidentified sources.
Those long-term solutions may be hard for voters to grasp, given that they are years away, compared to immediate measures like a proposed tax cut, Belt said.
“That’s generally more effective politically than if you say something that voters can’t put their mind around,” he said.
Sullivan says last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act has put more money in Alaskans’ pockets, in part through its tax breaks on tips, on overtime and for seniors.
But studies have shown that other Trump policies are offsetting the savings, such as the tariffs that have boosted consumer costs.
The Republican-backed federal reconciliation package also made huge cuts to food benefits and Medicaid through stricter eligibility requirements and shifts burdens to states to pay more for food assistance benefits, though Sullivan says it does not cut Medicaid funding for Alaskans.
The program, which serves one in three Alaskans, starting Jan. 1 will implement those additional work standards and require recipients to prove their eligibility twice per year, rather than once. A report issued earlier this year by the Alaska Department of Health estimated these changes could cause 9,000 Alaskans to lose access to the program.
A gallon cost $6.57 a gallon this week, slightly lower than the previous month but nearly 60% more than a year ago, AAA reported.
Tim Brennan, with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1547, which has endorsed Peltola, said recently that union members from Fairbanks are struggling with the cost of “simply living.”
“Working families of the Interior must make difficult choices,” he said. “Do I put money away for my kids’ education? Or do I use it to keep the heat on? These aren’t abstract numbers, these are the real decisions being made by Alaska families.”
He spoke at an event organized by the Alaska Democratic Party in Fairbanks, as a counter-protest to the campaign rally that Vice President JD Vance held primarily to boost Sullivan, days before Trump visited Alaska.
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