Your Future Depends on Alaska, Here’s How
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01:04It gets more American oil out of the groundand it brings America more energy security.Learn more about what our people doat chevron.com slash America.Hello, I'm Tim Rice.Welcome to another edition of Behind the Story.You know, with midterms just a couple of weeks awayand both parties scrambling to keep states that they currently hold
01:29and flip states that they don't,we thought it would be a good idea to geteverybody on our team doing as much midterm coverage as possible. So that means even folks who don'tusually cover political campaigns are covering political campaigns. And so when our White House correspondentMary Margaret Ollahan was invited to travel with Vice President J.D. Vance to Alaska,in addition to the already Herculean task of covering a vice presidential visit halfway around the world,we also asked her to do some campaign reporting and to do some campaign reporting she did.You can now read her piece inside the Republican fight to hold Alaska on The Daily Wire.
02:09And you can also hear from her about it now because she joins me today to take us behind the story.Mary Margaret, it's so great to have you back on the show.Hey, Tim, it's so great to be here.So this is a tantalizingly overbroad headline, and I love it because, I mean, it's actually not overbroad.It's exactly what the piece is.Your piece takes us inside the Republican fight to hold Alaska.usually I would tell people that they have to read the piece to get all the juicy details,but we love our behind-the-story listeners.
02:38So why don't we give them a little bit of a peek behind the curtain?Take us inside the Republican fight to hold Alaska.Absolutely.So Alaska is an interesting place because not only is it geographically far from the rest of the country,but their politics can't really be measured by the usual political standards.And that's something that the locals and strategists that I talk to explain to me over and over and over again.their politics are kind of shaped by the demographics and the geography up there, the fact that theyhave ranked choice voting, and Alaskan priorities, which are not always the same as their
03:14fellow Americans below the Canadian border. For example, nearly 380,000 or 60% of Alaska'svoters are registered as nonpartisan or undeclared. And that doesn't mean that they're, you know,independent minded or they're necessarily left leaning. In fact, what I was told is a lot of these peoplelean Republican, but they're fickle. And so if things are not going the way that they might expect,they're going to be frustrated. So just because the president won the state, that doesn't mean thathe's secured it for the next election. And part of the reason that we went up there with J.D. Vance isbecause his trip offered a window into that fight for Republicans to hold Alaska. And their planto really mobilize voters who had helped secure Trump's victory in 2024 by tying the Democrat
04:05candidates up there to radical Democrat extremism, making the case that Alaskans really needpoliticians like Dan Sullivan in Washington to continue delivering the real results for the statethat that state needs. Yeah, so let's actually talk a little bit, if you don't mind,about the candidates. Because I think that Alaska is, I mean, look, all of these, as you sort ofsaid, Redd, I think what you just said about just because the president won it in2024 doesn't mean that Republicans are going to hold it. I think that's a lesson thatRepublicans are learning in a lot of states this year. And I think it's a lesson that theincumbent party learns every midterm cycle, right? This is everyone said it a million times.
04:47So nothing about this is necessarily surprising, but Alaska is one of these races and a largepart because of the vice president's visit that, you know, didn't get as much attention up frontas Michigan or Texas, but now is sort of bubbling up.So why don't you just quickly give us a run through of who's running and what the issues are?Yeah, so Dan Sullivan is running for the Senate seat.He is a Republican, as Vance said, a really great guy, a Marine Corps vet, and he is runningagainst Mary Pelotola.Well, the interesting thing here is that Mary Pelotola previously ran and lost
05:27in 2024 to Nick Begich, who is the current Republican representative who is running againfor the House of Representatives in Alaska.Now, Trump won Alaska by 13 points in the 2024 presidential election.That was the same election that Mary Paltolla lost her seat to Nick Beggage.But now, just two years later, she's neck and neck with Dan Sullivan.And this is a really interesting race because on the,one hand, Mary Peltola has a lot of things on her side that will make Alaskan voters quite upset.For example, she has been anti-police. She is anti-border control in many ways. She's voted against
06:13men, keeping men out of women's sports. And she's just really with the left on most issues thatRepublicans and conservatives care very strongly about. But that being said, she's done a really goodjob at portraying herself as more moderate this time around. And Alaskans are really feeling theprices at the gas pumped. They're really feeling the effects on groceries and they're concernedabout the economy and things like this. So they're in a neck and neck race up there, Peltola andSullivan, to see, you know, who can really convince Alaskan voters that they are the man for the job.And I should note too, Tim, another aspect of Alaska is that there's a lot of people who aretruly doing these working class jobs, whether these guys are out on backhose or they're driving the
07:01side tilt dump trucks. There's people who are building runways or stringing the power lines out onfishing boats, mining, fishing, you name it. They spend a lot of time doing legitimate jobs thatare keeping them away from the polls in some cases. I had one woman tell me, Suzanne Downing,she's one of the top writers in Alaska. She was telling me that during the summer, a lot ofAlaskans are out digging in the soil, they're building roads, fishing, mining, repairing dikes,the men are out working on equipment. And so they might live on one side of the state,but they're doing a job on the other side of the state, so voting can be hard for them.And then voting absentee is logistically hard too. And a lot of these people are not confident
07:46that their absentee ballot will even be counted, so that makes them less inclined to do.that. So there's so much at play here and again I think it comes down to who can convincethese voters especially people who are you know potentially out on the job or not near homethat it really does matter for them to vote especially voting absentee and who can reach thosepeople and remind them why they do want to engage with politics because that's another thing thatSuzanne Downey explained to me is that a lot of people are getting really fed up with all thepolitical ads that they're seeing this cycle. And a lot of the men especially are disengaging.So things like Vice President Vance going to Alaska or Donald Trump going to Alaska,
08:30that is very much more likely to get them engaged in the battle because it reminds themthis isn't just about Dan Sullivan. This is about the future of Alaska. It's about the futureof the country and the future of the United States Senate. Yeah, it's interesting. I feel likethe dynamic that you're kind of drawing out there is this, you know, Alaska is, look,every state is unique, right? That's kind of a non sequitur, but of all the states, Alaska is,I mean, geographically, it's so far removed, it's different industries. I mean, truly, right?I mean, you think about the parts of the state where it's dark, it's right, it's nighttime fortwo months out of the year, whatever it is. So life, life is different there. And so it makes sense that
09:10the concerns of Alaska voters would be different than pretty much in any other state. But of course,they're seeing political ads.They're getting the national side of it.They're getting visits from the vice president or the president.So what on your visit did you know, what seemed to be, you know, the main concerns that are either that are going to, you sort of explained what might be keeping the Alaskans away from the polls.What in your trip did you see that might be driving them to the polls?Who do you think they're, like, who has a better case based on those issues and how different is that from the issues that are animating these midterms in other?States. Well, one thing that I heard and noticed and I found really interesting was the way in which
09:52the vice president went after Mary Paltola because Dan Sullivan, he is what most people told me is he isa legitimately good person. He is a good man. But he's not the best at attacking his opponent. And thatwas something that a couple people told me ahead of the rally. They said, look, he's a really goodpolitician, a good man at the end of the day, but not so much the kind of person that's going toshow people why she's the worst. And so when it came to that actual rally in the vice president'srhetoric, he did a really good job of telling Alaska voters, don't judge her by what she'ssaying now in these final six weeks of a Senate campaign, judge her by what she's actually done.And Vance said, you know, the reality is she did support a lot of radical Democrat.
10:42policies, including Mad and Women's Sports. And this line from him particularly stood out,when her voting record was on the line, what she did is she supported radical left policies.And he really came out strong, swinging against her on this point, to the point where multiplepeople who I was with said, wow, we haven't really heard that yet. That's not something that's reallyeffectively been said about her yet. And so I think that on the one hand will have an effect. But then also,just bringing a lot of these people out there to Fairbanks,which is where Vice President Vance gave his remarks,a lot of people that I talked to told me that this was a big deal,
11:21because Fairbanks is kind of a conservative stronghold in Alaska.And a lot of these people that showed up for Vance,you know, again, these are hardworking Alaskans.These are people who left legitimate jobs that dayand made time to come and hear Vance speak.A lot of the men that I saw were really serious looking.They were really dialed in.They were really engaged.
11:42And then, of course, there were a lot of families, plenty of children, too.So it activated people in the area in a way that I don't think they've seen in a long time.And for what it's worth, I was told that a vice president hadn't come and campaigned in that way since I believe the 70s.That was something that some of the bystanders had told me.So all in all, I think it was a really interesting rally.And I think Vance coming out there really energized people.And then, of course, I should note that the president himself went out there this week.as well. And he rallied Alaskans and really encourage them to consider himself on the ballot.
12:18So not just to vote against radical Democrats, but to vote for him, saying that, you know,a vote for Dan Sullivan is a vote for Donald Trump. And that's something the president has beendoing all over the country, trying to get people to understand that he's still on the ballot.Because, and this is something that, you know, Republicans should probably voice more.if the Senate does not go for Republicans during these midterm elections, Trump could be a lame duckpresident. And that's something that's very much on the president's mind and something that I think,you know, a lot of us here in Washington worry about. Now, Alaskans might say that matters to them lessthan, you know, grocery prices and gas prices. But Trump might tell you it's all intertwined.
13:01Yeah, I'm sure he would. And I mean, look, there's, as you sort of noted, right, you know,And I think as everyone is kind of reminded,certain, I mean, this midterm year was probably one of the most nationalizedmidterm campaigns, if that's, it's not a perfect way of putting it, but this, you know,right from the beginning, right, there's usually a couple of races that become fodder on nationalnews and things that the president or national political figures speak about.This year, right, again, the early contenders and persistent examples would be Abdul al-Saidin Michigan and the Ken Paxson James Talarika race in Texas.
13:37But pretty much from the beginning, and in a large part at the urging of the president and I think both the Republican and Democrat parties, this whole cycle, right?I mean, this is what the midterm convention was all about, was about kind of tying all these races together and very much tying them to the forthcoming presidential election in 28.So, yeah, I think you're absolutely right to note that voters in Alaska, I mean, voters everywhere, but certainly in Alaska, it seems more so than other states perhaps are maybe.be primarily animated by, you know, the kitchen table issues, but that doesn't mean that they're notequally as concerned or are still thinking about, about the kind of national, future nationalimpacts of what could happen in their state. And so to that end, I just, I want to step away fromAlaska just a little bit, because again, as I sort of said at the beginning, you obviously, as ourWhite House correspondent, are focused on the White House and the administration. And so often you're
14:34physically there at the White House and or traveling with the president or writing, you know,kind of breaking news about what's happening at the executive branch. So what was it like kind oftalking to people about campaigns, but also Congress, right? It's a, it's a different branch ofgovernment than you focus on in your day to day, which is obviously, obviously the, you know,it's all kind of reporting. So it's not that, not that this was like a crazy thing for you to do,but subject wise, it's a little different. What are you, how was that? How was it like, you know,kind of reporting this out? Yeah, it was really interesting.really enjoyed it because I talked to a lot of people like you said that are not DC adjacent and it's
15:09refreshing in a lot of ways. Everyone was so excited and that's something that you don't get a lot inWashington where people are used to politics. They respect the president but maybe they're not asyou know, enthusiastic and just raw excitement that we saw in Alaska. I had people texting me whogot my number from other random people that I ran into along the way and they wereall just sharing my phone number because they were truly so excited at the thought of participatingin a Daily Wire story about this event, partially because they love the Daily Wire, which they should,but also because they're just so amped up about this race and about Vance coming. I talked to one guy,his name's David Long, and he's a Fairbanks resident who went to the rally with his wife,
15:55and he's the one that reminded me it had been 54 years since a vice president have visited Fairbanks.He told me that there were friends showing up who never go to regular political rallies.He told me they were stoked.He said there were people who had diabetes who had to ask special permission from the Secret Service to bring stuff in.People showed up who had never been to a political rally before, asking special permission to get time off work.There were people that drove hours and hours and hours to be there.And one thing I learned to him is that Alaska is not a small state.I think someone told me you could fit five Texases in Alaska.
16:31which is just insane to think about.And then just to envision the terrain that we flew over,the amount of mountains, the snow, the frozen lakes,to hear about all the wildlife.It's just a different area of the country,the sub-Arctic North, actually, as I learned in my research.So it was really interesting,and I think a really great reminder,
16:54especially for people in Washington,that sometimes we do need to look up and look around.In fact, often we need to look up and look around.around because what happens in the swamp is really not supposed to be about the swamp. It's supposed to beabout all of these other states and the Americans in them all over the country. And Alaska, for me,that was a really great reminder that this is why we do what we do. Yeah, absolutely. I mean,it's such an interesting point. It's so incredibly well said. But, right, I think it's this weird thing,right, especially where sometimes people overcorrect and they start talking about real America and
17:27then the rejoinder to that is all America is real America. But obviously what you're saying is thatThere's like, there's Washington and there's the rest of the country.And that's generally true.You know, when you take away kind of the CNN wine moms and the chattering classes,people who really love to engage with what's happening in Washington on a day-to-day,the political junkies, right?Most real Americans, obviously, it's very different.But then again, Alaska, just because it's this actual frontier, it's this, it's the wild west of the country, right?
17:54I mean, it is very different.It's like the whole state is basically like one small town.It is kind of a great reminder of, again, yeah, something that we should keep in mind, not just when we're talking about Alaska.It's just, it's such a strong reminder of a thing that I think we should keep in mind, yeah, to your point, kind of across the board.Sticking with this for a minute here, and this is something that you and I have discussed on our new show, The District Club, watch on Sundays.Just how are you at this point in time, again, you know, a couple weeks away from the midterms?As someone who spends a lot of time in the White House and covering the White House,what are your thoughts on where the White House is and the president and vice president
18:39are with the midterms at this point in time?Are they anxious?Are they confident?What should we expect to see from them in this home stretch?What do you got?Well, outwardly, everyone is posturing confidence.I've heard that inside there's rumblings, there's concerns, but this is a very active administration.they don't sit back and wait for things, so they are out on the road. So I believe J.D. Vance was out on
19:03the road in Texas this week campaigning for Ken Paxton. You had Donald Trump heading to not only Alaska,but also Nevada, to Montana, to Arizona. He is going all over the country, again, reminding Americansthat he's on the ballot, the significance of getting to the polls, encouraging them to think abouttheir vote for whatever representative or senator as a vote for him. And I think that's huge andwill absolutely have an impact on these races. You also have concerns recently from some Democratstrategists who fear that they've been relying too much on polls, which we have consistently seen tonot be very accurate, not be very effective. Now, again, we should point out that a lot of thesepolls are trending in favor of Democrats. So we very well could see Republicans,
19:52slaughtered in these upcoming midterms. But I think that it's too early to say, and I think Republicansstill have a leg to stand on when they say that everything they're doing matters and everythingthey're doing to get out the vote is going to play a role. So Trump's making all these visits,Vance is making all these visits, and there's still things happening in the news that couldabsolutely play a role in some of these elections. In Florida, for example, there's new reportsthat there is an illegal immigrant who allegedly sexually assaulted a child,well, that illegal immigrant who is accused of doing such a heinous crime identifies as a transgender womanand was released during the Obama administration despite the fact that this individual had been
20:37illegally in our country and was also identifying as a woman, which I think a lot of us would sayshows signs of severe mental health. Now, down in Florida, this is becoming a really big storywhere the local outlets are not only refusing to acknowledge this dude's immigration status,but they're also calling him a woman in their reporting. So there's a lot of different stories likethis that are starting to make waves that are giving their Republican candidates fodder to talkabout and causing Democrat candidates to have to grapple with them in ways that they're notgoing to want to do in the last couple weeks before the election. So there's just still so muchto say. There's still so much to watch for. And I don't know that anyone is going to
21:17going to effectively call these races until we get much closer to November.Yeah, it's definitely going to be a eventful last couple of weeks.I think we got a lot of our October surprises in September this year.But a couple weeks, as we've been saying, to go to the midterms.And as you know, Mary Margaret, that is practically a lifetime in politics.So especially with some of these candidates and this president, you never know what we'regoing to hear or what's going to become a, you know, a midterm issue in these last few days.and I am just excited to be able to cover it and excited to have you covering it as well.
21:52So thank you again for joining the show.And thank you all for tuning into another episode of Behind the Story.That was Daily Wire White House correspondent Mary Margaret O'Lahan.Go read her piece inside the Republican fight to hold Alaska.Now, I am Tim Rice.Thank you for joining.We'll see you next week.Who answers America's call for more energy?
22:19Our people do.Chevron's U.S. Energy productionincreased by nearly 60% in the past three years.Hi, my name is Aaron, and I'm a wealth site representative at Chevron.I'm proud of the work that I do every day.It gets more American oil out of the ground, and it brings America more energy security.Learn more about what our people do at chevron.com slash America.
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