Trump urges Alaskans to repeal ranked choice voting: ‘Damn bad cheating’

Read the original at Washington Examiner ↗
Washington Examiner · collected 2026-10-14 · by Christian Datoc

Quick Summary

At an event in Wasilla, Alaska, President Donald Trump urged Alaskans to support Ballot Measure 2 by voting “yes” to repeal the state’s ranked choice voting system. Trump claimed that ranked choice voting is a "scam" used by Democrats to manipulate election outcomes and benefit candidates like Dan J. Sullivan, a retired teacher running for U.S. Senate in 2026. He emphasized his message by stating, “All it is is a way to cheat,” and urged the audience to terminate the system as it is harmful to Alaska’s electoral process.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-14, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

Story summary

As of October 14, 2026, President Donald Trump visited Wasilla, Alaska, to campaign for Republican Senator Dan Sullivan, amid concerns that Democrats might win in a typically Republican state due to rising gasoline prices and voter frustration. The visit was part of a larger three-state tour aimed at securing Republican control of Congress ahead of the November 3 midterm elections. During his rally, Trump criticized ranked choice voting as "cheating," urging Alaskans to support Ballot Measure 2 to repeal it, which he claimed could confuse voters and benefit Sullivan's opponent, former Rep. Mary Peltola. At the event, a protester interrupted, leading Trump to mock them with typical insults. Despite Alaska traditionally being a Republican stronghold, recent polling showed Democrat Mary Peltola slightly ahead of Senator Dan Sullivan by 1.4 points in the RealClearPolitics average.

Written for “Trump Campaigns In Alaska” on 2026-10-14, grounded in this article and the 4 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
The model judged this article politically coded and scored it +0.65, but 1 quote(s) could not be found in the article and the other 3 are attributed speech rather than the article's own narration, so the score is not published.
Written under an earlier scoring contract, which gave a paragraph rather than checkable quotes. Re-analysing this article replaces it.
Leaning score withheld for article 78121: no verified evidence · logged 2026-10-14

Story

📰 Trump Campaigns In Alaska
Politics · 5 article(s) covering the same event. Compare every outlet's account →

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 0% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
Trump heads to the Last Frontier to stump for ‘the real Dan Sullivan’ same event · 95%
Washington Examiner
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 2% hedged 1 of 43 📰 publisher trust 68
“Both articles describe President Trump holding a rally for Senator Dan Sullivan in Wasilla, Alaska on the same date.”
Trump forced into unusual Alaska trip as GOP faces midterm warning different event · 80%
The Independent
⚖️ Leans left 🔴 5% hedged 2 of 37 📰 publisher trust 59
“The articles describe different aspects of President Trump's trip to Alaska, with Article A focusing on the campaign rally itself and Article B specifically about his call to repeal ranked choice voting.”

Cite this article

Datoc, C. (2026, October 14). Trump urges Alaskans to repeal ranked choice voting: ‘Damn bad cheating’. Washington Examiner. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/campaigns/state/4765037/trump-alaskans-ranked-choice-voting/

Dated from the outlet's own feed. Check the original for its byline.

How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
20
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
0%
0 of 20 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
withheld
no quote in the article backed the model's score
Publisher signals
68/100
Washington Examiner's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
5
Politics
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-14 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

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Who wrote this

Christian Datoc
23 article(s) here · 0 carrying a prediction
🔮 Trump specifically noted that Sullivan has been working with the White House to drive foreign investments into the Alaska liquified natural gas pipeline “and all the other projects that will come with it.”
2026-10-14 · assertive framing · Trump and Lutnick say Taiwan will purchase 30% of natural gas produced by Alaska pipeline project
🔮 President Donald Trump held a rally for Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) and other down-ballot Republicans in Wasilla, Alaska, Tuesday night, the first stop on a three-leg western campaign tour that will also take the president to Arizona and Montana.
2026-10-14 · assertive framing · Trump heads to the Last Frontier to stump for ‘the real Dan Sullivan’
🔮 Last week, Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin announced an agreement that would see Russia export nearly 5 million tons of diesel to the United States, including 300,000 tons in the immediate future.
2026-10-12 · mixed framing · Trump says GOP opponents of diesel deal ‘can’t be serious’
🔮 Heading into the weekend, polls showed Democrats holding an advantage of more than 8 points over Republicans on generic House ballots, leading most analysts to believe that the chamber will flip majorities in November.
2026-10-10 · mixed framing · Why experts aren’t sold on Democrats’ polling advantage
🔮 The White House routinely discounts those critiques, but recent reporting on deals linked to Kushner has some GOP figures questioning whether MAGA’s typical hand-waving regarding the Trump family’s business empire will work this cycle.
2026-10-07 · assertive framing · Is Trump’s son-in-law and top negotiator a midterm liability for Republicans?
🔮 Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins told Fox News Monday morning that the president would make an “announcement” on the topic during a trip to Nebraska Monday evening.
2026-10-05 · assertive framing · Trump says Ukraine and blue states to blame for high gas prices rather than the Iran war
🔮 “This day will be very long,” the Washington Examiner heard the White House photographer tell the Chinese delegation.
2026-09-25 · assertive framing · Press corps chaos spills over during Chinese state visit
🔮 Still, Trump and Xi may be uniquely positioned to substantially improve the bilateral relations, as the two appear to have developed a friendship over the past 10 years.
2026-09-25 · assertive framing · Trump and Xi toast the ‘long relationship between China and America’
🔮 President Donald Trump tripled down on his convictions regarding artificial intelligence during his speech to the U.N. General Assembly, declaring that the United States will continue racing to become the undisputed global leader in the emerging technology.
2026-09-22 · assertive framing · Trump rejects ‘globalist’ control of artificial intelligence
🔮 Some of President Donald Trump’s allies are worrying that his kind words for Zohran Mamdani, the socialist mayor of New York City, are undercutting the party’s midterm election-focused message attacking “communism.”
2026-09-22 · assertive framing · Trump ‘muddies’ GOP communism attacks with Mamdani praise
Also by Christian Datoc
Trump and Lutnick say Taiwan will purchase 30% of natural gas produced by Alaska pipeline project
2026-10-14 · Washington Examiner
Trump heads to the Last Frontier to stump for ‘the real Dan Sullivan’
2026-10-14 · Washington Examiner
Trump pardons two truckers at Alaska rally: ‘Clean as a newborn baby’s a**’
2026-10-14 · Washington Examiner
Trump says GOP opponents of diesel deal ‘can’t be serious’
2026-10-12 · Washington Examiner
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 23 articles by Christian Datoc →

Topics

Alaska Ballot Measure 2 Democrats Republicans the U.S. Senate

Subjects

Alaska GPE · 3× Trump PERSON · 3× Dan J. Sullivan PERSON · 1× Dan Sullivan PERSON · 1× Democrats NORP · 1× Donald Trump PERSON · 1× Republicans NORP · 1× Sullivan PERSON · 1× Wasilla GPE · 1× the U.S. Senate ORG · 1×

Narrative

Trump and Republicans have frequently accused Democrats of backing Dan J. Sullivan, a retired teacher running for the U.S. Senate in 2026, as a means of abusing the system and pull votes away from incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK).
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-14
2026-10-14 · Washington Examiner
Trump urges Alaskans to repeal ranked choice voting: ‘Damn bad cheating’ · assertive framing

Claims (20 extracted, 0 hedged)

President Donald Trump called on Alaska voters Tuesday night to support Ballot Measure 2 in order to repeal the state’s ranked choice voting system. asserted
Trump → call → system
Trump and Republicans have frequently accused Democrats of backing Dan J. Sullivan, a retired teacher running for the U.S. Senate in 2026, as a means of abusing the system and pull votes away from incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK). asserted
Trump → accuse → Sullivan
The president called ranked choice a “scam” while stumping for Sullivan in Wasilla, Alaska, on Tuesday night. asserted
president → call → night
“You go in No. 1, you come out No. 2, No. 3. asserted
you → go → ?
Nobody knows what they’re doing back there. asserted
they → know → what
They know what they’re doing. asserted
they → know → what
It’s a scam. asserted
It → ’ → ?
It’s a Dumocrat scam, and you got to repeal it,” he told the crowd. asserted
he → ’ → crowd
“You got to get out, if for no other reason, you got to repeal rank choice. asserted
you → got → choice
It’s a joke all over the country, and everyone else is repealing.” asserted
everyone → ’ → country
Alaska utilizes a top-four primary, in which the four highest vote-getters from the August primary advance to the general election. asserted
getters → utilize → election
Voters can rank up to four candidates. asserted
Voters → rank → candidates
The person with the least votes after each round is eliminated, with ballots reapportioned or exhausted until the winner clears 50%. asserted
winner → eliminate → %
“All it is is a way to cheat,” Trump continued. asserted
Trump → cheat → ?
“You’ve got to terminate it and get it out because it’s no good, it’s bad for your system, so bad for your state, and we gotta be careful.” asserted
we → get → state
Trump later clarified that he wants Alaskans to “vote yes” on the ballot measure, “meaning yes, we’re going to repeal.” asserted
we → clarify → measure
“You know they word them a little strange. asserted
they → know → them
It means yes, we’re going to repeal. asserted
we → mean → ?
That’s what it means. asserted
it → ’ → what
We’re going to repeal in this election,” he declared. asserted
he → go → election
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