President Donald Trump tried throwing Alaska’s incumbent GOP Sen. Dan Sullivan a bone Wednesday—but it quickly backfired.
During a White House event, Trump claimed that South Korea agreed to invest $54 billion to export natural gas from Alaska.
“I want to thank, in particular, Dan Sullivan for getting this deal done,” Trump said before explicitly calling on voters to support Sullivan in the upcoming midterms.
GOP Sen. Dan Sullivan of Alaska, who is running for reelection against Democrat Mary PeltolaAP
And on social media, Sullivan posted a video of his appearance with Trump, further promoting the purported project.
“This project will deliver low-cost energy for Alaskans for generations and create 10,000+ good-paying jobs,” he wrote. “A historic day for our state!”
But by Thursday, the South Korean government denied that the agreement was a done deal like Trump and Sullivan made it appear to be.
Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan told reporters that “the announcement went far beyond what was agreed” and that his government had lodged a formal protest with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick over Trump’s misinformation.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung confirmed that the deal was only in the beginning stages.
“We agreed to begin working on the Alaska LNG project on the conditions that, first, its commercial viability is confirmed and, second, it complies with Korea’s legal procedures,” he said.
Related | Democrats keep gaining ground in race to control Senate
Sullivan is in dire need of a boost in his bid for reelection. His seat is one of the Democratic Party’s top targets, and if he loses his seat to challenger Mary Peltola, it could give Democrats a majority in the Senate.
Polling shows that this is a very real possibility. The race’s two most recent polls show the both candidates essentially tied, at 46% to 47%. Other polls have shown both Peltola and Sullivan with leads—but very narrowly.
Not only is Alaska Trump territory, but it has also been dominated by Republicans for years. In the 2024 election, Trump received 54.5% of the vote, easily defeating former Vice President Kamala Harris by more than 13 points.
Democrat Mary Peltola, who is challenging Sullivan in Alaska’s Senate raceAP
The competitive nature of this race is a testament to how the tide has turned against Republicans—and why Trump is trying so hard to push candidates like Sullivan.
A similar dynamic has been playing out in Iowa, which Trump also easily won in all of his presidential races.
Once Democrat Josh Turek narrowed the gap in his race against GOP Sen. Ashley Hinson—who has started to publicly criticize Trump—Trump announced an agreement to build a $15 billion steel plant in Iowa.
Trump has a track record of such announcements, including the infamous “deal” to open a Foxconn facility in Wisconsin that never materialized nor created the jobs that Trump promised.
I guess that’s just the “art of the deal” for you.
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