Trump vowed to lower gas prices. His backers in Alaska are not buying it.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Americans have had it with fuel prices. Just ask Trump voters in Alaska.

The average cost of a gallon of gas is more than $5 statewide. Diesel prices hit their highest-ever recorded level in September. Those economic conditions are leaving some Trump voters in the state fed up and giving rise to an optimism among Democrats that former congresswoman Mary Peltola could unseat incumbent Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan in November.

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“It’s hard out here. Simple,” said Calvin Mitchell, a 41-year-old security guard from Anchorage who voted for President Donald Trump in each of the past three presidential elections.

“I can’t go see my daughter out of state, and we’re not buying as many groceries, and we’re not really doing anything fun or entertainment unless it’s free,” said Gayle Michaelson, 48, a paralegal and three-time Trump voter.

What would she tell the president? “I would tell him what he initially told the voters is BS — that these prices weren’t supposed to be so high — and look what’s happened.”

Trump decisively won Alaska in the past three elections, beating Hillary Clinton by about 15 points in 2016, Joe Biden by about 10 points in 2020 and Vice President Kamala Harris by about 13 points in 2024.

But the skyrocketing cost of diesel fuel, which is disproportionately integral to the everyday lives of Alaskans, is among the factors that are putting Sullivan’s seat in danger from his Democratic challenger, Peltola.

“A lot of people are going to look at the other way, because a lot of trucking, especially myself, truck drivers are owner-ops … they can’t afford the diesel,” said Meffy Tagalu, a trucker and three-time Trump voter. Like Alaska’s fishing industry, which is a cornerstone of the state’s economy, trucking is particularly susceptible to diesel price fluctuations, currently due to the war with Iran.

“We need to get out of that war and fix all the prices. You know, we’re hurting really bad,” Tagalu said, putting the blame squarely at Trump’s feet.

“Everybody that voted for him” is starting to turn their backs on him, Tagalu said.

Not everyone.

Carl Cleveland is a Marine veteran who voted for Trump three times and has voted for Sullivan in the past. The way things are going has left him disillusioned with the American political system.

“Everybody’s just fed up with the current system,” said the 47-year-old. “We work our ass off to keep food on the table with a roof over our heads, and these guys go to D.C. … They go down there and just forget about us, and that’s how Sullivan was, or is right now,” he said.

Cleveland did not want to reveal whether he is supporting Sullivan or Peltola in the midterms, but he said that when it comes down to his decision, “It’s just the price at the pump. You got to look at that.”

In 2020, Sullivan dominated his re-election bid, beating independent Al Gross by more than 12 points. But in August’s open primary, Peltola beat Sullivan by about 8 points, a signal that Alaskans may be primed to elect a Democrat to the U.S. Senate for the first time since Mark Begich in 2008.

Despite deep frustration with the president, many of these Trump voters said they are not swayed in their support from Sullivan.

“I’m going to have to go with Sullivan just because Peltola’s record doesn’t prove out,” said Jason McNulty, a three-time Trump voter who said he is “done with Trump” and that the president “doesn’t do anything he says. He’s a lot of rhetoric and very little action.”

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