The three Republicans running to be Alaska’s next U.S. Representative said they supported Donald Trump on Thursday, the same day that the former president was found guilty on 34 charges of falsifying business records.
The most up-to-date schedule shows that Trump will be sentenced on July 11, which is four days before he is supposed to go to the Republican National Convention and become the party’s official presidential candidate.
So far, ten people have signed up to run for Alaska’s only spot in the U.S. House of Representatives. Three of them are Republicans, one is from the Alaskan Independence Party, and the current Democratic representative, Mary Peltola, is one of them. The last day to file to run for office is Saturday.
There are five candidates, but only five have Alaska mailing addresses. One of them said on her campaign website that she has gone into a religious retreat and will not be holding any public events or raising money.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Republican Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom, who officially filed for the U.S. House on May 23, she spoke out against Thursday’s decision.
The events of today are a shame for our justice system and will have effects on it for years to come. “President Trump, Alaskans support you!” the post said.
After five minutes, Nick Begich, another Republican candidate, said, “Today’s verdict in New York is a travesty.”
He said that he thinks the trial was messed up and that people in America will understand that.
Begich said, “Trump will win in November, and we will start fixing things that went wrong during Joe Biden’s four years in office.”
A Republican candidate from Palmer named Gerald Heikes didn’t know about the decision until a reporter called.
“That’s not a surprise,” he said, also not liking the outcome.
He said that Trump’s position is a lot like that of former U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, who was found guilty during an election year of taking too many gifts from supporters and not telling anyone about them. After that, Stevens lost the race to Mark Begich’s opponent, and Stevens’ conviction was later overturned because the prosecutor did something wrong.
Trump was found guilty, but Heikes said, “I think the appeals court will overturn it.”
While Republicans were very vocal about the outcome, Peltola wouldn’t say what she thought.
Shannon Mason, a spokesperson for Peltola’s campaign, said, “We don’t have a comment, sorry.”
According to John Wayne Howe, the candidate for the Alaskan Independence Party, private money shouldn’t be limited in any way. He also said that Trump should have been able to spend his money however he pleased.
Howe said, “I don’t think the trial should have happened at all.”
