Bronson stays in governor's race, disputing Trump's account of deal to quit

Former Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson said Wednesday that he is staying in Alaska's governor's race, a day after President Donald Trump endorsed Republican rival Bernadette Wilson and said Bronson had broken a promise to drop out.

"I will not follow the words of our President," Bronson wrote in a statement on his campaign's Facebook page. "I will continue to be a man in the arena."

Bronson said Trump asked him after the August primary to suspend his campaign. He said he told Trump he would do so only if the other candidates also suspended theirs, and no such agreement was reached. He said he and Trump "remember these conversations differently."

Trump first made the claim in a Truth Social post Tuesday afternoon. He wrote that Bronson "begged me for my support and Endorsement," which Trump said he refused because Bronson hadn't won the primary. Trump said he then asked Bronson to get out of the race and "he agreed," but "three days later, without notification, quickly jumped back in."

Later that day, at his Wasilla rally, Trump said Wilson "won the primary, and the other 2 should have dropped out." Without naming Bronson, he said, "one of them promised me he would drop out," then "decided to break his promise to me."

Alaska News could not independently verify either man's account of their private conversations.

"You have 3 Republicans against 1 Democrat. That's crazy," Trump said at the rally, referring to Bronson and former Attorney General Treg Taylor as "the other 2." "They have no chance, but they wanted to run." He urged Republicans to unite behind Wilson.

Bronson argued the request risked alienating voters who backed other candidates in the primary. He said Trump should have encouraged voters to rank all three Republican candidates while also supporting Sen. Dan Sullivan and Rep. Nick Begich. Bronson said in August that he was "not backing down" and "not stepping aside".

The Nov. 3 ballot for governor lists Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins and Republicans Wilson, Bronson and Taylor. Voters can rank all four. If no one wins a majority of first-choice votes, the last-place candidate is eliminated and those ballots can move to the voter's next choice. The same ballot asks voters whether to repeal ranked-choice voting, which Trump called "a phony rigged deal" at the rally.