Roughly 100 people packed into the Sterling Community Center on Sunday for a GOP rally that featured conservative speakers, local candidates for state office, and a lot of Donald Trump.
Nikiski’s John Hodges takes the stage to perform a rendition of “Sweet Home Alabama” that incorporates place names from the Central Kenai Peninsula.
“Sweet home north Kenai, where the skies are so blue, yeah,” he sings. “Sweet home, Sterling, Alaska. Lord, I’m comin’ home to you, yeah. Sweet home Soldotna, where the skies are so blue.”
It’s the first of three songs he performs during a two-hour Trump rally in the conservative stronghold of Sterling. Nearly 80% of voters cast ballots for Trump across the unincorporated community’s two precincts in 2016. More than 85% of voters at the same precincts went for Trump in 2020.
On Sunday, the center was the terminus of a caravan of vehicles decked out in Trump flags and political signs. And it was the backdrop of a conservative rally that came almost exactly a month before the Nov. 5 election.
Trump’s campaign director in Alaska, Kelly Tshibaka, emceed.
“What we want to do is leverage the momentum that we have for President Trump in Alaska to win down ballot races,” she told attendees.
Tshibaka, a former department head in Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s administration, unsuccessfully challenged Republican U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski for her seat in 2022.
Kenai business owner and conservative talk radio host Duane Bannock spoke in opposition to Ballot Proposition 1.
The proposition would increase Alaska’s minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2027 and increase with inflation each year after that. It would also require employers to offer sick leave to their employees and prohibit employers from mandating employee attendance at religious or political meetings.
Proposition 1 supporters say the new rules would boost the state economy by providing workers with fair wages and benefits. Those opposed say it would stifle small businesses still struggling to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. He tied the proposition to labor unions, which he called the “number one threat” to small businesses.
“I started with saying small business is the backbone of the American economy,” he said. “Ballot measure number one is the soul-crushing, backbone-breaking of Alaska's small businesses.”
The crowd was on board.
“What are you voting for on (Proposition) One?” Tshibaka asked them after Bannock spoke.
“No!” the audience said.
Attendees also heard from former Lt. Gov. Loren Leman, who spoke in support of Ballot Proposition 2.
That proposition would repeal Alaska’s open primary and ranked-choice general election systems, which state voters approved in 2020 and became effective in 2022. If the proposition passes, state primaries would again be divided by political party, and people would vote for only one candidate during the state general election.
“I just want to see – is there anybody here who doesn't know how they're going to vote on Ballot Measure 2?” Leman asked.
Some audience members laughed.
“I was going to say, I'm going to talk to you right now,” he said. “OK, everybody knows how they're going to vote. That's good.”
Leman argued that open primaries and ranked choice voting have created more dark money in Alaska. The same ballot measure that implemented the new election systems also strengthened disclosure requirements for political contributions.
Leman and Bannock were followed by a smattering of conservative Kenai Peninsula candidates seeking state office including Nikiski Republican Rep. Ben Carpenter and Homer Republican Rep. Sarah Vance. House District 8 candidates Bill Elam and John Hillyer also attended. Their district covers the northern half of the Kenai Peninsula, including Sterling and Nikiski.
Even some of the evening’s auction leaned into the vibe.
To raise money for local Republican groups, attendees bid on everything from collectible stamps, to fishing trips, to fabric posters adorned with the now-famous image of Donald Trump taken immediately after an attempt on his life at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Other items included a “Keep America Great” hat, collectible silver coins with Trump’s likeness on one side and some of the other Trump memorabilia that decorated the event stage.
While Sterling skews bright red, a recent poll shows the state overall is pinkish.
An Alaska Survey Research poll of more than 1,100 likely Alaska voters last month found that roughly 52% said they would vote for Trump. That’s compared to 43% who favored Kamala Harris and 6% who favored Robert Kennedy Jr.