'Gotta run!' Senate Republican flees forum when confronted on broken promise

Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) had a simple answer when a constituent confronted him about a broken campaign promise at a public forum this month — he ran.

Sullivan was wrapping up a Zoom session at ComFish, Alaska's commercial fishing conference, when someone on the call put him on the spot.

"Hey Senator, do you have a second for one more question?" asked Jacob Carlson.

"Nope, I've got to run, I've got a 5 o'clock press conference. And I've got to prepare for it," Sullivan said.

"Oh but why did you break your pledge to return the money you took from the Pebble Mine CEO?" Carlson asked.

Sullivan's response was swift.

"I gotta run. Thanks!" he said — and disappeared.

"Why did you break your pledge? To return the money?" Carlson demanded to know.

But the senator had already left.

"Ok. With that ..." an organizer of the forum said, trailing off as the audience chuckled.

The recorded exchange is making the rounds in Alaska political circles, according to Alaska Public Media's Alaska At-Large newsletter, and is expected to feature prominently in upcoming anti-Sullivan ads as his Senate race against Democrat Mary Peltola heats up.

In 2020, Sullivan pledged to donate all campaign contributions from Pebble Mine's then-CEO Tom Collier to charity after secret recordings surfaced of Collier bragging that he had Sullivan "sitting over in a corner and being quiet." Sullivan called Collier's behavior "unethical practices."

Sullivan is still accepting contributions from Pebble's current CEO John Shively, who gave $500 in December and another $500 in February.