PALMER, Alaska — Jean Oldham had just put $6-a-gallon gas into a small sedan, and she was doing the math out loud.
“It was, like, a lot of money,” Oldham said. “And I’m like, this is just a little car, you know? What happens if you’re driving one of those monster trucks?”
Those big rigs run on diesel, which costs more still — driving up the price of pretty much everything they haul into Alaska.
Statewide, gas averages $5.07 a gallon, according to AAA — 74 cents higher than the national average and $1.15 higher than a year ago. With seven weeks until Election Day, that number has helped turn a reliably Republican Senate seat into a toss-up and put Democrats within reach of a majority.
And Palmer is on the road system; 82% of Alaska communities are not. In those remote places, boats or small planes bring in food and supplies. Electricity comes from generators that run on diesel. Gas for cars and trucks is expensive: In late August, in the northwestern village of Shungnak, a gallon of gas cost $26.82.
All of it helps explain why the cost of fuel dominated a recent high-stakes debate between Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan and former Rep. Mary Peltola, a Democrat, that had been billed as a debate about fisheries. That’s because fuel is the fishing industry’s problem too. Alaska’s $5 billion-a-year fishery is the state’s largest private sector employer, and expenses are climbing while profitability falls.
“This is the No. 1 cost for all fishermen. This war in Iran is driving up our gas and diesel prices,” Peltola said, noting repeatedly that Sullivan had voted for the war 10 times.
Sullivan, who has been a staunch supporter of President Donald Trump’s policies, acknowledged that “people are struggling” but accused Peltola of consistently voting “with Lower 48 allies of hers against our interests” during two terms in the House.
Still, he acknowledged, the price of fuel has made life harder. “It is a challenge,” Sullivan told the crowd in Kodiak.
That challenge is one reason why the race is close in a state Trump has carried three times.
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Chris Jansing
Chris Jansing is MS NOW’s Chief National Correspondent.
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