Dan Sullivan Backed a War That's Burning Alaskans at the Pump — Then Asked Them for Gas Money
Dan Sullivan has a message for Alaskans: he needs gas money.
In a recent fundraising email with the subject line "Alaska needs you!!", Alaska's senior U.S. Senator asked his constituents to open their wallets and help fund his reelection campaign. The ask might seem routine — politicians fundraise constantly — except for one rather glaring detail: Sullivan has spent the last several months voting, again and again, to keep the United States in an unauthorized war with Iran, the same war that has driven gas prices past $5 a gallon across Alaska and pushed rural communities to the brink of a survival crisis.
How We Got Here
On February 28, 2026, the United States and Israel launched coordinated military strikes on Iran — Operation Epic Fury — killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and targeting Iran's nuclear and military infrastructure. Within hours, Sullivan voiced his full-throated support, calling Iranian leaders "less world leaders than terrorists."
That support never wavered. As Senate Democrats and even a handful of Republicans argued that only Congress has the constitutional authority to declare war, Sullivan doubled down. At an Armed Services Committee hearing, he lectured his colleagues:
"To my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, wake up. This country's been at war with us for almost a half century, and they've killed thousands and wounded thousands of our best and brightest."
What Sullivan never explained was what that meant for the people back home — the Alaskans filling up their trucks, heating their homes, and trying to survive in some of the most remote communities in America.
The Human Cost Sullivan Isn't Talking About
Thirteen American service members have been killed in Operation Epic Fury. Another 381 were wounded in the first 40 days of fighting alone. By the time a ceasefire took hold, the total U.S. dead and wounded stood at 385 — and in a troubling sign of the times, the Pentagon was caught quietly scrubbing 15 wounded troops from its official casualty count.
These aren't abstractions. They are sons and daughters, parents and spouses, coming home in flag-draped coffins or with wounds that will last a lifetime.
Sullivan voted against War Powers resolutions to rein in the conflict — not once, not twice, but seven times. A bipartisan effort to invoke the War Powers Act and end U.S. military action failed 49-50, with Sullivan casting the deciding vote, even as his own colleague Senator Lisa Murkowski broke with her party and voted to halt the war.
$29 Billion in Equipment — And Counting
The human toll is only part of the ledger. A Congressional Research Service report found that at least 42 American military aircraft were lost or damaged during the 40-day air campaign. Total costs for Operation Epic Fury have climbed to nearly $29 billion.
The losses read like a Pentagon nightmare:
- One or two THAAD missile defense radar systems destroyed, worth between $485 million and $970 million
- A $700 million E-3 AWACS airborne command aircraft obliterated at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia
- Three F-15E fighter jets shot down — by friendly fire
- The aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford damaged by fire, currently undergoing repairs in Greece
- More than two dozen MQ-9 Reaper drones destroyed, worth nearly $1 billion and representing 20% of the Pentagon's prewar inventory
The Center for Strategic and International Studies estimated the war was costing the United States roughly half a billion dollars every day. The Pentagon is now seeking an additional $200 billion from Congress to cover the tab — a tab that Sullivan helped run up with every vote against ending the conflict.
What It's Costing Alaskans at Home
While Sullivan was voting to keep the war going in Washington, Alaskans were getting crushed at the pump.
Gas prices in Alaska jumped a full dollar a gallon in a single month. One Anchorage resident told reporters her tank went from $70 to fill up to $100. A Wasilla man said he was spending around $150 a week just on fuel.
"We can't take it all on at one time. Groceries, the cost of living, space notes going up, everything has gone up."
— Anchorage resident
In rural Alaska, the situation is not merely painful — it is potentially catastrophic. Even before the war, gas was $6.72 a gallon in Bethel and $17.50 a gallon in some Northwest Alaska villages. Bulk fuel vendors are now warning those prices could rise another 50% due to the war-driven supply crunch. Ingemar Mathiasson, energy manager for the Northwest Arctic Borough, put it bluntly:
"We're looking at, maybe, a survival scenario for rural Alaska. At those prices, I would imagine that people are going to try to move into Anchorage. I don't know if you can heat your house at over $20 a gallon."
Policymakers say they are "tracking the problem." No concrete steps have been announced.
He ROARed. Now He's Begging for Gas.
Here is where Sullivan's record becomes not just ironic, but jaw-dropping.
For years, Sullivan made the Strategic Petroleum Reserve — the SPR — a signature political issue. When President Biden tapped the reserve in 2022 to ease soaring gas prices, Sullivan was furious. He called it "political window dressing" that would "do little to counteract the Biden administration's own destructive policies." He thundered that Biden had "depleted the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to a level we haven't seen in 35 years" and called it "a desperate political maneuver."
So Sullivan did what senators do — he introduced a bill. He called it the ROAR Act: the Replenishing Our American Reserves Act. He declared that "the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is meant to support our nation through major security crises — not to bail out a President's catastrophic energy policies." He introduced companion legislation to prohibit SPR oil from being sold to China. He gave speeches, issued press releases, held hearings, and built an entire political brand around protecting and refilling the emergency reserve.
He even said it himself, on the record: the SPR is for major security crises.
There is just one problem. The ROAR Act never passed. Sullivan introduced it, reintroduced it, gave it a catchy name — and couldn't get it out of committee. It died in the Senate. Twice. The legislation was, in Sullivan's own words about Biden, political window dressing.
Then came the Iran war — the actual major security crisis Sullivan had been warning about for years. And what happened to the reserve he had spent years vowing to protect?
President Trump ordered the release of 172 million barrels from the SPR as part of a coordinated 400-million-barrel international drawdown through the International Energy Agency. The SPR then saw its largest single-week drain in recorded history: nearly 10 million barrels gone in one week, leaving stockpiles under 375 million barrels while oil spiked to $114 a barrel. The reserve is now poised to reach its lowest level since 1982 — worse than anything Biden ever did. Trump, who had also campaigned on filling the reserve "right to the top," is now so desperate to replenish it that his administration is reportedly exploring drilling for oil beneath U.S. military bases.
The reserve Sullivan spent years claiming to protect is now in worse shape than ever — and it got that way because of a war Sullivan voted seven times to keep going without congressional authorization.
And Dan Sullivan? Silence. The senator who spent years ROARing about the sanctity of the SPR has not issued a single public statement addressing its historic collapse during the war he championed. Not one press release. Not one floor speech. Not one tweet.
Trump Blinked. Sullivan Didn't.
On April 7, 2026 — less than two hours before his own deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face attacks on civilian infrastructure — President Trump blinked, agreeing to a two-week ceasefire mediated by Pakistan. Iranian state television immediately called it a "humiliating retreat." Trump later indefinitely extended the ceasefire, citing internal divisions within Iran. Peace talks have since stalled, with little overlap between U.S. and Iranian demands.
Let that sink in. Even Trump, who launched the war, eventually pulled back. Sullivan never did. He was more hawkish than the president whose war he was defending, voting against every attempt to restore congressional oversight, while his constituents paid the price at the pump, in the military, and in their savings accounts.
The Bottom Line
Sullivan wants Alaskans to send him gas money.
He wants their support to keep his Senate seat in a race he now faces against former Congresswoman Mary Peltola, who is running hard on the very issues this war has made unavoidable.
But before Alaskans reach into their wallets, they deserve to ask: what exactly has Dan Sullivan been doing for them?
He backed a war without a vote. He voted seven times to keep it going without congressional authorization. He watched gas prices soar past $5 a gallon in Anchorage and toward $20 in rural villages. He said nothing while the Strategic Petroleum Reserve — the emergency stockpile he spent years claiming to protect — was drained to a generational low by the very conflict he enabled. And 13 American service members came home in coffins.
The senator says Alaska needs you.
Alaska needs answers.
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