Dan Sullivan discusses Interior Alaska, his fellow delegates, and life as a senator

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (KTVF) - Senator Dan Sullivan has a deep personal connection to Interior Alaska, having worked his first job as a judicial law clerk in Fairbanks.

With the Fairbanks North Star Borough celebrating its 60th anniversary this year, Sullivan was asked what role the borough plays in the culture and economy of Alaska, to which he responded, “It’s central. It’s critical, right? I mean, think about the resources. Of course, we’re been talking about resource development, and whether it’s minerals or oil and gas that comes through Fairbanks, but it’s also intellectual resources, right? When you think about UAF.”

“The intellectual resources and capacity of Interior Alaska, because of the university system, which I’m a huge supporter of, is critical, and then, there’s our military. I like to say that Alaska’s military has three critical pillars,” he continued.

“Guess what? All three of those pillars, missile defense, fifth generation fighters, 11th Airborne Division, they’re here in the Interior, so it is critical in so many different ways,” Sullivan said.

Sullivan has been serving on the United States Senate since 2015. When asked the effect such a job, with its heavy amount of travel, has on his life, Sullivan explained, “It’s a family endeavor. I have a wonderful wife, a daughter of Fairbanks, my wife Julie. You got to have the family involved, supportive, because it’s not always easy on the family. I have three wonderful daughters as well, but look, it’s a privilege. It’s an honor of a lifetime.” He said he tries to get home every weekend, spending a lot of time in airplanes, but that being home energizes him.

He says in Washington, D.C., his working relationship with Senator Lisa Murkowski and Representative Mary Peltola is strong. “I think the delegation has a long history over the years of, regardless of who’s in, regardless of party, you’ve got to work together.”

“Every state’s unique. There’s no doubt about it, but we are very unique, relative to other states, and so educating our colleagues in the Senate, in the House, on different issues in Alaska. You just raised one, in terms of King Salmon run declines, and getting them to support some of the issues that matter most to us, it’s a team effort, right? And I think the Alaska delegation has, for many years, decades even, has had a reputation of being small, which we are, there’s only three of us, but we punch way above our weight,” Sullivan said.

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