Donald Trump is holding campaign rallies in Arizona and Montana following a stopover in conservative Alaska, a schedule that highlights his party's recent difficulties in the polls. Alaska stands as one of several traditionally conservative areas where Democrats see potential opportunities to flip Senate seats, driven by voter frustration regarding the rising cost of living and the Iran conflict.
Recent polling indicates that Democratic candidate Mary Peltola is running even or slightly ahead of Republican incumbent Senator Dan Sullivan in a state that Trump won by a significant margin during the 2024 election. Across the nation, presidential approval ratings have faced pressure due to escalating gasoline and diesel prices, alongside an unpopular military conflict in the Middle East.
During the Alaska event, Sullivan acknowledged local concerns regarding energy expenses while attempting to shift focus toward national energy policy. Trump has increasingly concentrated his campaign efforts on reliably conservative pockets within competitive states, rather than targeting more politically diverse territories where a larger number of undecided voters might be reached.
While in Alaska, Trump granted pardons to two local repair shop owners who had previously been convicted of violating the federal Clean Air Act by removing pollution controls from diesel engines. He also urged Republican voters to embrace voting by mail, a method he has frequently criticized and worked to restrict in the past.
During his remarks, Trump repeated assertions that military action against Iran was necessary because Tehran was allegedly weeks away from acquiring a nuclear weapon, despite US intelligence findings from 2025 indicating that Iran had suspended its nuclear weapons program years earlier. The president also drew attention during the trip after sharing a social media video concerning a fatal tiger attack on a British man with a mocking caption aboard Air Force One.
Separately, the newly appointed press secretary, Katie Zacharia, declined to clarify whether she holds a valid law license anywhere in the United States when questioned about where she passed the bar exam, offering only that she had previously moved to China.