President Trump flew to Wasilla, Alaska, on Tuesday to rally support for Sen. Dan Sullivan — and to pardon two men onstage — as the state's Senate race threatens to hand Democrats a seat Republicans haven't lost there in nearly two decades.

The rally at the Curtis D. Menard Memorial Sports Center marked Trump's sixth trip to Alaska since 2019, coming less than a month before the Nov. 3 election. Sullivan is locked in an unexpectedly tight contest with Democrat and former Rep. Mary Peltola, who led Sullivan for much of the fall in Decision Desk HQ's polling average and outpolled him in August's open primary, according to the Anchorage Daily News.

Pardons on the stage

Midway through the rally, Trump signed pardons for diesel mechanics Zachary Czubak and Patrick Fleming, who had pleaded guilty in 2022 to Clean Air Act violations. "They wanted to put them in jail for 10 years because they fixed an engine," Trump told the crowd, according to The Hill's live coverage of the event.

Trump also used the stage to tout a disputed $54 billion South Korean investment claim tied to an Alaska natural-gas pipeline project and a separate Taiwan gas deal — crediting Sullivan directly. "And I have to say that Dan Sullivan helped me get this done. Thank you, Dan," Trump said, per The Hill. South Korean officials have publicly disputed that they committed to the $54 billion figure.

"THEY HAVE RIPPED US OFF FOR SO LONG BUT NOT ANYMORE."

That line, aimed at Canada amid the ongoing trade dispute between the two countries, drew some of the loudest cheers of the night, The Hill reported. The remarks came hours after Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney made his own pointed comments about the trade standoff.

Hours before taking the stage, Trump waded into Alaska's governor's race too, endorsing Republican Bernadette Wilson on Truth Social and dismissing rivals Dave Bronson and Treg Taylor as "lesser" candidates. "All Bronson and Taylor will do is take away votes from the candidate that has, by far, the best chance of winning," Trump wrote, according to the Anchorage Daily News. Bronson pushed back on Trump's characterization of their private conversations, saying his "recollection is different from the president's."

Trump also called for repealing Alaska's ranked-choice voting system, which Republicans in the state have blamed for splitting the conservative vote in past races.

Alaska's Senate race is one of several — alongside contests in Ohio, Michigan, New Hampshire and Maine — complicated by fallout from the U.S.-Canada trade war. Trump carried the state comfortably in 2016, 2020 and 2024, winning more than 75% of the vote in the Wasilla area alone in 2024, but Alaska Public Media and the Anchorage Daily News both report his standing there has softened heading into the midterms.

Road closures and traffic delays were reported around the arena, and a counter-rally organized by independent House candidate Bill Hill's campaign drew supporters near downtown Anchorage the same day. With three weeks left before Election Day, both parties are treating Alaska as a genuine toss-up that could help determine which party controls the Senate next year.