Concerns About Medicaid & Public Radio Lead To Protest Against Dan Sullivan At AFN
FROM THE ALASKA BEACON https://alaskabeacon.com/ Dozens stand in silent protest of Sen. Sullivan during address to the Alaska Federati...
FROM THE ALASKA BEACON
https://alaskabeacon.com/Dozens stand in silent protest of Sen. Sullivan during address to the Alaska Federation of Natives
Demonstrators stand in a silent protest of U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan during his address to the Alaska Federation of Natives conference on Oct. 17, 2025 (Photo by Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)
Dozens stood in a silent protest of Alaska U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan during his address on Friday to the Alaska Federation of Natives.
Several demonstrators stood and turned their backs to the senator as he spoke, and some held signs reading “Medicaid matters” and “Public radio saves lives.”
Sullivan did not acknowledge the protesters or stop speaking during a roughly half hour of remarks to the ballroom of attendees. The three-day conference in Anchorage is the largest representative gathering of Native peoples in the state, drawing roughly 6,000 people each year.
Protesters stood on behalf of a variety of issues. Some were residents of the community of Ambler, some advocates and supporters, all opposing the proposed Ambler Road, a 211-mile road to a mining district, recently advanced by the Trump administration with the support of Sullivan.
“Crossing hundreds of streams, it will affect everything,” said Teresa Clarke, executive director of the Yukon River Inter-tribal Watershed Council, a coalition representing 74 tribes and First Nations from Canada, opposing the proposed development, saying it risks environmental degradation.
“We’re already affected by extreme weather events, as we’ve realized this past week, and those types of events will probably speed up more extreme events and then degradation, melting of more permafrost, it will affect the animals, and everything,” she said, referring to severe storms that have devastated coastal communities.
Following the event, Amanda Coyne, a spokesperson for Sullivan, responded to the protest repeating the senator’s positions on Medicaid and public radio, and saying “Senator Sullivan welcomes respectful debate. He listens to all Alaskans on Ambler.”
Aubrey Wieber, executive director of the non-profit advocacy group 907 Initiative, criticized Sullivan’s refusal to hold public events or town halls this year after his support of the Trump administration.
“Well, this is the only public event he’s done all year, and the public has been routinely, repeatedly asking him to show up and hear from constituents,” Wieber said. “And he’s pretty quick to go to a private event with donors, you know, something that’s maybe $500 a plate, but he’s not coming and talking to Alaskans. And so this is one of the very few opportunities that we had to voice our opinions.”
Wieber was among those who stood to protest Sullivan’s support of the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” the Trump administration’s landmark legislation advancing the conservative blueprint for government known as Project 2025 that passed this summer. It included tax cuts as well as cuts to social services like Medicaid and funding for public media.
“The simple fact of the matter, standing up here and saying nobody’s getting cut from Medicaid is a lie, because you cannot take a trillion dollars from the federal Medicaid budget, give those to millionaires and billionaires in the form of tax cuts and then open up this $50 billion rural health care fund. You know, one of those numbers is much bigger than the other,” he said.
Wieber said the proposed cuts to Medicaid — and health insurance premium tax credits being bitterly debated during the federal government shutdown — will hurt Alaskans and the health care system, and he urged the senator to support funding and re-opening the federal government.
“Listen to Alaskans. Do what’s right for Alaskans,” he said. “Stop being a yes man for party bosses and stand up for your constituents.”
Correction: This story has been updated to correctly spell Aubrey Wieber and Amanda Coyne’s names.
