Trump endorses Dahlstrom in Alaska's U.S. House race

Jun. 17—Former President Donald Trump endorsed Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom in Alaska's congressional race on Monday.

Trump made the endorsement on his social media platform, Truth Social. Dahlstrom is one of two prominent Republicans challenging the Democratic incumbent, Rep. Mary Peltola, for Alaska's lone U.S. House seat.

Trump wrote that Dahlstrom "will be a tremendous Congresswoman for the Great People of Alaska, just as she was as your Lieutenant Governor. Nancy is a proven fighter!"

Trump is running again for president. In his social media post on Alaska's congressional race, Trump went on to attack Republican congressional candidate Nick Begich, a businessman who ran for Alaska's U.S. House seat in 2022.

He said Begich "has Democrat tendencies" and that "he refused to get out of this race last time, which caused the Republicans to lose this important seat."

In 2022, Peltola won a special election to replace former U.S. Rep. Don Young, who died unexpectedly after nearly 50 years in office. She faced both Begich and former Gov. Sarah Palin, a Trump-aligned Republican who came in second to Peltola after Trump endorsed Palin and campaigned on her behalf in a 2022 Anchorage rally.

Despite Trump's endorsement of Palin and now Dahlstrom, Begich has aligned himself with the former president and his policies. Before Young's death, Begich criticized Young's willingness to work across the political aisle with Democrats.

Begich is the nephew of former U.S. Sen. Mark Begich, a Democrat, and the grandson of Democrat Nick Begich Sr., who was elected to Alaska's congressional seat in 1970 and disappeared during a 1972 flight from Anchorage to Juneau. The younger Begich has repeatedly emphasized that he does not share the political views of his prominent Democratic relatives.

The 2022 election was the first under Alaska's new voting system, which features a ranked-choice election between the top four vote-getters in an open primary. Begich and Palin spent much of their 2022 campaigns attacking each other, splitting the GOP vote and allowing Peltola to pull ahead. It was the first time a Democrat won a statewide election since 2014.

In the current election cycle, Begich and Dahlstrom have so far refrained from attacking each other. Begich has commanded support from local GOP groups in Alaska, while Dahlstrom is favored by the Republican establishment in Washington, D.C., with endorsements so far from House Speaker Mike Johnson and other prominent Republican congress members.

Begich did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday. Peltola's campaign manager, Anton McParland, declined to comment on Trump's social media post, which called Peltola "very unpopular" and accused her of "doing a terrible job."

Dahlstrom thanked Trump for his endorsement in a written statement. Dahlstrom became lieutenant governor in 2022 after Gov. Mike Dunleavy picked her as his running mate. Prior to that, she was commissioner of the Alaska Department of Corrections.

"Our southern border is a mess, our dollars don't go as far anymore, and our adversaries are emboldened across the globe. Now more than ever, we need real conservative leadership in Washington to right the ship and I look forward to working with President Trump to Make America Great Again when we're both in Washington," Dahlstrom wrote.

So far, Dahlstrom has focused much of her campaign on the U.S.-Mexico border and immigration-related issues. She traveled to the border earlier this year with other congressional candidates.

Peltola has focused on fishery-related issues, which were a key part of her campaign in 2022. The Democrat had a heavy lead in fundraising in the first quarter of the year. A coalition of Alaska Native leaders and labor groups recently launched a $500,000 media campaign to support her.

The campaign is meant in part to counter significant spending by national Republican-aligned groups. The Congressional Leadership Fund, which has endorsed Dahlstrom, announced last month it would spend more than $5 million on Alaska advertising ahead of the election.

Alaska's House seat is seen as one of a handful at play in the November election that could decide control of the U.S. House. Republicans are looking to expand their current razor-thin majority, while Democrats hope to win back control of the chamber.