Alaska Senate candidate hopes to ride Democratic wave

Al Gross commands a fishing boat as a narrator describes him prospecting for gold and killing a grizzly bear in self-defense in an ad meant to underscore a central theme of Gross’ U.S. Senate campaign as an independent: that he knows Alaska.

“Out here,” he says as the boat rocks on the water, “if you can’t think for yourself, you won’t survive.”

Gross, a doctor running with Democratic support, is challenging Republican U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan in a state that has long been a GOP stronghold, outraising Sullivan and putting Republicans on the defensive. Across the country, Republicans are nervous about Senate seats like Sullivan’s they once thought safe as Democrats hoping to retake the chamber try to tap into the party’s enthusiasm for ousting President Donald Trump.

Sullivan has sought to paint Gross, who said he would caucus with Democrats, as a liberal and someone who would empower an “anti-Alaska agenda.” Sullivan said that includes limiting access to federal lands for development, cutting military spending and eliminating the potential for oil and gas drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge — an issue state political leaders have long supported but one that has become a flashpoint in the national climate change debate between Republicans and Democrats.

Read more: https://www.juneauempire.com/news/alaska-senate-candidate-hopes-to-ride-democratic-wave/