JD Vance’s pep rally for Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan hit a speed bump when a heckler appeared to insult both the vice president and Donald Trump.
Vance was in Fairbanks on Monday to try to boost support for the Republican incumbent, who finds himself in a close race against Democrat Mary Peltola, Alaska’s former at-large congresswoman. Peltola had a seven-point lead in a New York Times/Siena University poll conducted last week, while a Quantus Insights poll—also from last week—showed a statistical tie.
Vance, 42, said that with Sullivan, 61, in office, “no more does the Pentagon kick Alaska to the curb.”
“No more does it ignore the incredible strategic opportunity of this incredible state. So much of what’s happening right down the road at Eielson, home to two squadrons of F-35s,” he continued, as the heckler called out.
“I don‘t know if Ohio has two squadrons of F-35s, Dan,” Vance continued, appearing to spot the drama in the crowd but talking through it. “The historic 11th Airborne Division, and billions of dollars of new missile defense investments through the goldendome...”
Vance then paused his comments and addressed the disturbance.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we of course had to have one person who wants to ruin the party,” he said. “But our message to him is: no, we‘re not going to elect that far-left radical. We‘re going to elect Dan Sullivan.”
What the protester was saying could not be discerned on the broadcast, but a White House pool report said that while being escorted out of the venue, the man was yelling insults, apparently about both Vance and Trump. One of the words he used was “pervert.”
A video by White House pooler Mary Margaret Olohan showed the heckler: a gray-haired man in a blue “Alaska” hat and a shirt that read in part, “Putin & P---y.” The man has not been identified.
Footage from Alaska’s News Source shows the man being escorted out of the rally while yelling,“stay out of my couch.” It appears the man was referencing a false, viral meme surrounding the vice president that blew up online in 2024 alleging that Vance described a sexual encounter with a couch cushion.
Vance’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Beast.
Vance has been the target of hecklers before. While in Florida last week, he called one a “clown” and a “Democrat plant.”
In his speech Tuesday, Vance strangely described Democrats as trying to “steal” an election.
“My friends, the Democrats are obsessed with this state this cycle. AOC and Kamala Harris and the rest of them, they see the last frontier as their last, best hope to take America in a far-left direction, to impeach Donald j. Trump, to turn off the energy projects that we‘re building all across this state, and to throttle this state and this country’s incredible progress,” he said. “They are ruthless. They will do whatever they need to do, right up to cheating and right up to lying and right up to putting somebody on the ballot who has no reason to be there other than to help them steal an election.”
