This story was originally published in the Alaska Beacon.
The three Republicans vying to become Alaska’s next member of the U.S. House of Representatives issued statements of support for Donald Trump on Thursday after the former president was convicted Thursday on 34 counts of falsifying business records.
According to the latest available schedule, Trump will be sentenced July 11, four days before he is expected to attend the Republican National Convention and become the party’s official nominee for president.
Ten people have registered so far to run for Alaska’s lone seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, including three Republicans, a member of the Alaskan Independence Party, and incumbent Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola. The candidate filing deadline is Saturday.
Four other candidates do not have listed Alaska mailing addresses, and a fifth said on her campaign website that she has entered religious seclusion and will not have public events or fundraising.
Republican Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom, who officially filed for U.S. House on May 23, denounced Thursday’s verdict in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
“Today is an embarrassment to our judicial system and will have ripples in our legal system for years to come. Alaskans stand with you, President Trump!” the post said.
Five minutes later, fellow Republican candidate Nick Begich also commented, saying, “Today’s verdict in New York is a travesty.”
He said he believes the trial was flawed and that Americans will see that clearly.
“Trump will be victorious in November, and we will begin repairing from Joe Biden’s disastrous 4 years in office,” Begich said.
Gerald Heikes, a Republican candidate from Palmer, hadn’t heard about the ruling before a reporter called.
“That’s not a surprise,” he said, also criticizing the result.
He said he sees parallels between Trump’s situation and that of former U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, who was convicted in an election year of taking excessive gifts from supporters and failing to disclose them. Stevens subsequently lost his election to challenger Mark Begich, and Stevens’ conviction was later reversed due to prosecutorial misconduct.
“I think the appeals court will overturn it,” Heikes said of Trump’s conviction.
While Republicans were outspoken about the result, Peltola declined to share her opinion.
“We don’t have a comment, sorry,” said Shannon Mason, Peltola’s campaign spokesperson.
John Wayne Howe, the Alaskan Independence Party candidate, said he’s against restrictions on the use of private money and that Trump should have been able to spend his money how he wanted.
“I don’t think the trial should have happened in the first place,” Howe said.
James Brooks is a longtime Alaska reporter, having previously worked at the Anchorage Daily News, Juneau Empire, Kodiak Mirror and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. A graduate of Virginia Tech, he is married to Caitlyn Ellis, owns a house in Juneau and has a small sled dog named Barley.
