Officials in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough are preparing for President Donald Trump's rally in the city of Wasilla Tuesday afternoon. Trump will speak at the Menard Sports Center in support of U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan and Congressman Nick Begich, two Republicans running for reelection.
Mat-Su Borough Mayor Edna DeVries called the president's visit "exciting."
"I think it's just a boost in the fact that we have a president that cares about some — I wouldn't say little podunk cities — but you know, some cities that are not really, or even hardly states, that are on the map," DeVries said.
Trump is expected to arrive at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson on Air Force One on Tuesday, fly into the Wasilla Municipal Airport on the Marine One helicopter, then travel about one mile by motorcade to the Menard.
The rally starts at 2 p.m. and Trump is scheduled to speak at 3:30 p.m.
This will be the second White House visit to Alaska in about a week. Vice President JD Vance was in Fairbanks last Monday to rally support for Sullivan and Begich. Political observers nationwide consider Alaska's Senate race a toss-up contest that could decide which party controls Congress's upper chamber.
The Mat-Su Borough overwhelmingly voted for Trump the last three times he ran for president. And Sullivan won Wasilla by wide margins in the August primary, despite finishing behind his Democratic challenger, Mary Peltola, in statewide results.
Trump's visit to Wasilla shows that he isn't just concerned with large cities, DeVries said.
"He's just honoring, I believe, the faith we had put in him," DeVries said.
Preparing for the event has been "overwhelming," said Mat-Su Borough Emergency Services manager Ken Barkley. But, he said, he's excited to see all of his department's teams working together.
"There's eight departments out here, and every one of them are stepping up to either cover for the event or to cover the area for the department that normally would cover," Barkley said.
Traffic will undoubtedly be very tight in the area Tuesday, Barkley said. He expects major chokepoints at the interchange between the Parks and Glenn highways for people coming in from Anchorage, and near Knik Goose Bay Road for people traveling from within the Mat-Su.
For those in the area who won't be going to the rally, Barkley said he has two words: "Stay home."
"If you're gonna be traveling anywhere in the direction that I mentioned earlier," he added, "I would recommend staying home unless it's critical that you have to go somewhere."
The rally is expected to attract thousands of people to the Menard anda protest planned for Newcomb Park, about four miles down the road at Wasilla Lake.
Amy Bushatz with the Mat-Su Sentinel contributed reporting.
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