威尔·魏瑟特，贝基·博赫勒阿拉斯加州安克雷奇 — — 这里离华盛顿很远，人口稀少，近20年来一直未支持民主党参议员候选人。
WILL WEISSERT, BECKY BOHRER ANCHORAGE, Alaska — It’s a long way from Washington, has a small population and hasn’t backed a Democrat for Senate in nearly 20 years.
然而，总统唐纳德·特朗普将在周二抽出他日益减少的时间，前往阿拉斯加参加关键中期选举前的重要活动 — — 他将前往该州为共和党现任参议员丹·沙利文助阵，这也是共和党人对在11月3日选举日后仍能保持国会控制权的担忧的又一迹象。
Yet President Donald Trump on Tuesday will devote a big chunk of his dwindling time ahead of crucial midterm elections to head all the way to Alaska — attempting to bolster a Republican incumbent senator in another sign of GOP fears about retaining control of Congress after Election Day on Nov. 3 .
特朗普将在距安克雷奇约45英里（72公里）北方的瓦西拉为参议员丹·沙利文主持集会 — — 该地因是前共和党副总统候选人萨拉·佩林的故乡以及全州雪橇犬赛伊迪塔罗德的总部而闻名。
Trump is headlining a rally for Sen. Dan Sullivan in Wasilla, about 45 miles (72 kilometers) north of Anchorage — famous for being the hometown of former Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin and the headquarters of the Iditarod sled dog race across the state.
特朗普的此次停留是其西部行程的一部分，他还将于周三前往亚利桑那州和蒙大拿州参加集会。
Trump’s stop is part of a western swing also taking him to rallies in Arizona and Montana on Wednesday.
“丹·沙利文是一位伟大的参议员，”特朗普上周表示，并补充道：“你看看他所做的事情。他总是打电话给我，因为我认为 — — 我肯定知道 — — 没有人能像唐纳德·特朗普那样帮助阿拉斯加。”民主党上次在阿拉斯加赢得参议院席位是在2008年，此后该州自1998年以来未曾选出民主党州长。阿拉斯加唯一一次未投票支持共和党总统候选人是在林登·B·约翰逊1964年压倒性连选期间。
“Dan Sullivan’s a great senator,” Trump said last week, adding, “You look at the things he’s done. He would call me all the time because I think — I definitely know — nobody has helped Alaska like Donald Trump.”Democrats last won a Senate seat in Alaska in 2008, and the state hasn’t elected a governor from that party since 1998. The only time Alaska didn’t vote Republican for president was during Lyndon B. Johnson’s landslide 1964 reelection.
然而，伊朗战争导致的高油价和持续居高不下的通胀已经削弱了特朗普的支持率，以至于民主党人开始梦想在阿拉斯加制造冷门。
Yet high gasoline prices from the Iran war and persistently elevated inflation have damaged Trump’s approval ratings enough to leave Democrats dreaming of Alaska upsets.
正在寻求第三个参议院任期的沙利文将面对民主党候选人玛丽·佩尔托拉 — — 一名前众议员，她正竞选以“阿拉斯加优先”为口号，强调生活成本问题。
Seeking his third Senate term, Sullivan faces Democrat Mary Peltola , a former congresswoman running to put “Alaska First,” emphasizing cost-of-living issues.
阿拉斯加民调专家伊万·穆尔表示，他已经看到特朗普在全州的支持率出现下降，这一趋势与该总统全国范围内的支持率下降相呼应 — — 意味着参议院选举的结果可能取决于目前仍不确定是否继续支持他的2024年特朗普选民。
Alaska pollster Ivan Moore said he’s seen a decline in Trump’s support statewide that mirrors the president’s falling approval ratings nationally — meaning the Senate race may be decided by Trump 2024 voters who are now unsure they still back him.
“此次访问当然是合适的。访问是否有效则是另一回事，”穆尔说。他表示，当他第一次听说特朗普将访问阿拉斯加时，他并不相信这件事真的会发生。
“The visit is certainly appropriate. Whether the visit will be effective or not is another matter,” said Moore, who said when he first heard that Trump would visit Alaska, he didn’t believe it would actually happen.
特朗普政府一直将开放阿拉斯加更多地区进行石油和天然气钻探作为优先事项。副总统JD·万斯已经在费尔班克斯为沙利文进行竞选活动。
The Trump administration has prioritized the opening of more of Alaska to oil and gas drilling. Vice President JD Vance already campaigned in Fairbanks for Sullivan.
该参议员还最近在椭圆形办公室与特朗普会面，当时总统宣布韩国政府将向阿拉斯加天然气项目投资540亿美元。尽管韩国方面表示该协议及其总价值尚未最终确定。
The senator also recently joined Trump in the Oval Office where the president announced a $54 billion investment by South Korea’s government into an Alaska natural gas project. That’s despite South Korea saying the deal, and its total value, haven’t been finalized.
尽管如此，特朗普仍西行四个时区前往沙利文的选区腹地 — — 在中期选举临近之际进行如此长途跋涉 — — 这是他对沙利文最有力的支持表态。
Still, Trump trekking four time zones west to get to Sullivan’s home turf — an unusually long trip so close to the midterms — is his strongest show of support.
阿拉斯加人口约为74万，使其人口略少于丹佛。在50个州中，阿拉斯加的人口排名第48位，仅比佛蒙特州和怀俄明州多。
Alaska is home to around 740,000 people, making it slightly less populous than Denver. It ranks 48th out of 50 states in population, smaller than all but Vermont and Wyoming.
尽管如此，特朗普仍在2022年于安克雷奇举行的集会上成为主角，反对共和党籍阿拉斯加参议员丽萨·穆尔科斯基，因为她在第二次弹劾审判中投票定罪他，罪名是煽动叛乱，此事发生在他支持者于2021年1月6日冲击美国国会大厦之后。
Trump nonetheless headlined a 2022 rally in Anchorage opposing Republican Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski after she voted to convict him on a charge of incitement of insurrection during his second impeachment trial , following the attack on the U.S. Capitol by a mob of his supporters on Jan. 6, 2021.
特朗普曾支持Kelly Tshibaka，她当年曾挑战穆尔科斯基，但这并未阻止现任参议员穆尔科斯基赢得连任。
Trump endorsed Kelly Tshibaka, who challenged Murkowski that year, but that didn’t stop incumbent Murkowski from winning reelection.
特朗普一直抱怨阿拉斯加独特的选举制度。该州实行公开初选，无论党派归属，得票排名前四的候选人将进入采用排名选择投票制的大选。
Trump has complained about Alaska’s unique elections system. The state has open primaries, in which the four top vote-getters — regardless of party affiliation — advance to the general election, which uses ranked choice voting.
这导致了一种情况：在11月3日的选票上，除了现任参议员丹·沙利文之外，还会有另一位名叫丹·J·沙利文的候选人 — — 他是一名退休教师，特朗普及沙利文参议员的其他盟友曾称其为“假候选人”。丹·J·沙利文对此予以否认。
That’s led to a scenario where there also will be another Dan Sullivan on the ballot on Nov. 3: retired teacher Dan J. Sullivan, whom Trump and other allies of Sen. Sullivan have called a sham candidate. Dan J. Sullivan has denied this.
在他的集会上，特朗普还计划为共和党众议员尼克·贝吉奇拉票。贝吉奇正面临来自独立人士比尔·希尔的激烈竞争。
At his rally, Trump also plans to stump for Republican Rep. Nick Begich . Begich is facing a competitive challenge from Bill Hill, an independent.
阿拉斯加有奖励具有独立倾向的候选人的历史——这一点万斯在上周前往费尔班克斯的旅行期间也有所承认。“在非常深红的年份，阿拉斯加具有竞争力。在非常深蓝的年份，阿拉斯加仍然具有竞争力，”万斯说。“我认为这只是该州政治的现实。”在特朗普多年完全控制的共和党内部，独立性一直难以寻觅。面临艰难选举的一些共和党人已经开始在伊朗和关税等关键问题上小心翼翼地远离特朗普，但沙利文则不然，他一直公开支持两者。
Alaska has a history of rewarding candidates with an independent streak — something Vance acknowledged during his trip to Fairbanks last week. “In very deep red years, Alaska is competitive. In very deep blue years, Alaska is still competitive,” Vance said. “I think it’s just a reality of the politics of the state.”Independence has been hard to find in the Republican Party where Trump for years had total control . Some Republicans facing tough elections have begun tiptoeing away from Trump on key issues like Iran and tariffs, but not Sullivan, who has been vocal in supporting both.
上周，特朗普在一篇帖子中质疑为何有三名共和党人正在为州长一职与一名民主党人竞争。“我们这样做有多愚蠢？”他在社交媒体上说。与此同时，阿拉斯加州共和党领导人正敦促选民在选票上将共和党人排在前面，而将民主党人留空。
In a post last week, Trump questioned why three Republicans were running against a Democrat for governor. “How stupid are we to do this?” he said on social media. This comes at the same time state Republican party leaders are urging voters to rank Republicans on the ballot and leave the Democrats blank.
“我们想说清楚：我们不支持排名选择投票。这是一种令人困惑、负担沉重且成本高昂的投票方案，”包括共和党主席卡梅拉·沃菲尔德在内的党领导人在周六的一份声明中表示。“话虽如此，排名选择投票是阿拉斯加将用于2026年大选的制度，我们必须在此框架内工作，以保持阿拉斯加近期势头的强劲延续。”特朗普还与加拿大触发了贸易战，加拿大与阿拉斯加拥有超过1500英里（2450公里）的边界，并且是该州最重要的贸易伙伴之一。
“We want to be clear: we do not support ranked choice voting. It is a confusing, burdensome and costly voting scheme,” party leaders, including GOP chair Carmela Warfield, said in a statement Saturday. “That said, ranked choice voting is the system Alaska will use for the 2026 General Election, and we must work within it for this election to keep Alaska’s recent momentum going strong.”Trump has also triggered a trade war with Canada , which shares a 1,500-plus-mile (2,450-kilometer) border with Alaska and is among the state’s most important trading partners .
美国此前对约200亿加元的加拿大产品征收了50%的关税，随后禁止价值近10亿美元的来自北方邻国的进口商品——包括酒精饮料、乳制品和摩托车。加拿大以互禁和自身的进口税作出回应，这种来回博弈可能导致阿拉斯加消费者的价格上涨。
The U.S. banned nearly $1 billion worth of imports from its neighbor to the north — including alcoholic beverages, dairy products and motorcycles — after previously imposing 50% tariffs on about $20 billion in Canadian products. Canada has responded with reciprocal bans and its own import levies, and the back-and-forth could raise prices for Alaska consumers.
民调员穆尔表示，让加拿大在某种程度上成为敌人对许多阿拉斯加人来说是“令人不安”的。
Making Canada an enemy of sorts is “discomforting” for many Alaskans, said pollster Moore.
“我们我认为，可能比许多下48州的人更紧密地与加拿大人联系在一起，”他说。韦塞尔特从华盛顿报道。
“We associate, I think, probably more closely with the Canadians — more than a lot of the Lower 48,” he said. Weissert reported from Washington.