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By Giulia Carbonaro
Senior Reporter
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President Donald Trump has lashed out at Alaska Republicans who have fielded three candidates in two of the state's midterm races against one Democrat in November, and criticized its ranked-choice voting system.
The governor's race is competitive with 37-year-old Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins leading in several polls against a split GOP field. Similarly, the Senate race in Alaska is extremely close, suggesting that Democrats might have a chance of winning an extra seat in the upper chamber, where Republicans currently hold a narrow majority of 53 to 47.
"Can you believe that Alaska, a State I love, and won BIG, all three times, has three Republicans running against one Dumocrat for Governor? What is that all about? How stupid are we to do this?" the president wrote on Truth Social on Friday.
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"On top of it all, we have the Corrupt Ranked Choice System of Voting, which shouldn't be allowed in our Country and will, hopefully, be repealed in the November Vote.
"In any event, we have one Great Candidate running for the United States Senate. His name is Dan S. Sullivan, and he is the Incumbent, and doing a phenomenal job—Bringing more business to Alaska than any other Senator in U.S. History."
In all of Alaska's races this November, the top four candidates from each respective primary—whether for governor, the U.S. House, the U.S. Senate, etc.—find themselves on the general ballot, regardless of party affiliation. Voters are then able to rank them in order of preference, though they are not required to.
Under this system, a candidate who receives more than 50 percent of first-choice votes wins outright. If no one does, the candidate who came in last place is eliminated, and those who selected that candidate first will have their second-choice vote counted. The process continues until one candidate gets over 50 percent of the vote.
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Mary Peltola vs. Dan Sullivan: What Latest Polls Show
Democrat Mary Peltola, a former congresswoman, is currently leading the latest polls by a margin of between 2 and 7 percentage points over incumbent Republican Dan S. Sullivan, who has been endorsed by the president.
In an Alaska Survey Research poll conducted between October 1-3 among 1,512 likely voters, Peltola was at 47 percent, while Sullivan had 45 percent. The other Republicans in the field received much smaller shares; Dan J. Sullivan (not to be confused with the incumbent) was at 5 percent and Gerald Heikes at 3 percent.
A New York Times/Siena University poll conducted between September 24 and October 1 gave Peltola 50 percent of the vote, and Sullivan 43 percent. Six percent of the 504 likely voters polled did not know who they would support on November 3, and only 1 percent would vote for the other two candidates.
Should Peltola win, she would become the first Democratic senator elected in Alaska since Mark Begich won in 2008.
Trump reiterated his support for Sullivan, the incumbent, on Thursday, writing on social media: "Alaska needs Senator Dan S. Sullivan in the Senate, and Congressman Nick Begich, in Congress—That is a fantastic team."
Republican Representative Nick Begich is former Democratic Senator Mark Begich's nephew.
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Newsweek contacted Peltola’s and Sullivan’s campaigns for comment by email.
A Close Gubernatorial Race
Trump has made no endorsement in the governor's race.
Three Republicans are running to replace Governor Mike Dunleavy: former Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson, businesswoman Bernadette Wilson, and former state Attorney General Treg Taylor. Meanwhile, only one Democrat is running for governor; the former state Representative Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins.
An Alaska Survey Research poll of 1,512 likely Alaska voters conducted between October 1 and 3 has the Democrat on top at 48 percent, Wilson at 27 percent with Bronson and Taylor trailing at 15 and 10 percent respectively.
A New York Times/Siena University poll of 504 likely voters conducted between September 22 and October 1 has Kreiss-Tomkins ahead with 40 percent, Wilson at 20, Bronson at 15 and Taylor at 11 percent.
As of Friday morning, prediction market Polymarket gave the Democratic candidate a 77 percent chance to win the election.
Newsweek has contacted Kreiss-Tomkins, Bronson, Wilson and Taylor for comment by email on Friday morning.
Trump’s Approval Rating in Alaska
Sullivan is facing a much less favorable political environment in November than six years ago, when he successfully ran for reelection, and Trump's endorsement may be marred by his approval rating in the state.
Trump carried Alaska by 13 points in 2024, but his net approval rating has been negative since September 2025. According to Civiqs, 54 percent of Alaskans disapprove of his job performance, while only 39 percent approve of it.
The same New York Times/Siena University poll that gave Peltola a +7 net margin over Sullivan showed that 48 percent of likely Alaska voters "strongly disapprove" of Trump's handling of his job as president and 8 percent "somewhat disapprove," while only 29 percent "strongly approve" and 12 percent "somewhat approve" of it.
A previous poll conducted in June showed that 43 percent of Alaska likely voters strongly disapproved of Trump's handling of his job and 6 percent somewhat disapproved, while 29 percent strongly approved of it and 18 percent somewhat approved of it.
Alaska as Part of a 'Blue Wave'?
Democrats hope these midterms will bring about a “blue wave” that includes Alaska, which would allow them to take the majority in the Senate.
At the moment, the party would need a net gain of four seats to do this, with Maine, Ohio, Iowa, and Texas also seen as potential flips.
Republicans, on the other hand, still hope that Sullivan would be able to keep his seat. History is with him: he has never lost a statewide race, despite being underestimated in parts of the 2020 cycle before his victory over independent Al Gross.
The Trump administration has been trying to boost his profile, with Vice President JD Vance appearing at a rally in Fairbanks alongside the senator on Monday and Trump having involved Sullivan in the September 30 announcement of a $54 billion investment in a project to export natural gas, as well as liquefied natural gas, from the state, thanking him for "getting this deal done."
That same day, Trump accused Democrats of planting Dan J. Sullivan in the race as Republican contestant, calling it "very fraudulent." Dan J. Sullivan has said he voted for Democratic nominees in the past three presidential cycles.
"You know the Democrats put up another man in the race named Dan Sullivan. He's a fraud. Dan Sullivan's a fraud. That Dan Sullivan is a disgraceful fraud. They put it up for confusion and everything else," Trump said. "So, vote for the guy with the S."
Correction 10/09/26, 8:36 a.m. ET: A previous version of this article said Trump was targeting the Senate race. He was actually referring to the three Republican candidates in the gubernatorial race.
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