Suzanne Downing: Aboard Air Force Two with JD Vance, a day to remember in the Golden Heart City

By SUZANNE DOWNING

Oct. 6, 2026 – There are days in this line of work that I will remember for the rest of my life. Monday was one of them.

I flew from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson to Fairbanks aboard Air Force Two with Vice President JD Vance and Sen. Dan Sullivan, joining the traveling press for an event that brought about a thousand people to a hangar at Fairbanks International Airport.

I was there for The Alaska Story, representing the tens of thousands of readers who have made this publication part of their lives. That responsibility went with me up the stairs and onto the airplane.

But first, there was a bus. At JBER, the press boarded a bus for the trip to the tarmac. Secret Service agents were everywhere, men and women with those familiar earpieces, watching the surroundings and attending to details most of us would never think to notice.

The press moves according to instructions. We waited until the vice president arrived, then boarded through the rear stairs. Sullivan and Vance boarded at the front.

Air Force Two is a Boeing 757, with a very different arrangement from the commercial airplanes most Alaskans know so well. The forward portion accommodates the vice president’s living and working space. The media sit toward the back, with security personnel throughout the aircraft.

A second airplane was also part of the operation. Everywhere you looked, there was another layer of preparation.

We took off from JBER, circled Fairbanks before landing, and then pulled up in front of the hangar where the crowd was waiting.

What a sight that must have been from inside the hangar: Air Force Two arriving and becoming the backdrop for the evening’s event. In Alaska, where airplanes are an everyday part of life, this was still something extraordinary.

Sullivan was in a very good mood. Upbeat, engaged, and carrying a positive fighting spirit, he looked like a man eager to make his case to Alaskans.

One subject he emphasized was the treatment of young people who had worked for Mary Peltola.

He spoke about Alaskans arriving in a congressional office excited about an internship or a first job, ready to serve their state and learn how Congress works. Sullivan described young staff members being mistreated and leaving, and he was plainly bothered by it.

The New York Times’ September reporting included former employees’ accounts of angry outbursts and unusually high staff turnover. Sullivan pointed out that these accounts had appeared in a newspaper he hardly considers inclined to go after Democrats.

His emphasis stayed with me: These were Alaskans. Young people whose first experience in public service should have given them encouragement and an opportunity to grow.

At the hangar, Sullivan and his wife, Julie, walked from the airplane toward the podium, and the crowd roared its welcome.

He spoke for about 15 minutes and delivered a barn-burner: energetic, passionate, and memorable. The upbeat spirit I had seen during the trip carried right onto the stage.

With Air Force Two as backdrop, JD Vance makes the case for Sen. Dan S. Sullivan in Fairbanks

Then Vance walked off the airplane to another tremendous welcome.

For his first Alaska visit, he had come to the Golden Heart City. That was a compliment to Fairbanks, a community with a deep place in Alaska’s history, where delegates gathered to write our state constitution.

Fairbanks seemed delighted to have him.

Vance spoke for roughly 15 to 20 minutes. He was personable, warm, engaging, and upbeat. He understood the crowd and spoke comfortably to it. The applause and roaring approval rose again and again through his remarks.

It is one thing to watch a vice president on television. It is another to watch him walk from his airplane into an Alaska hangar and connect with the people gathered there.

When the speeches were over, the pace changed immediately. The media gaggle was hustled back aboard, and soon we were headed to JBER, where we arrived after dark.

Having seen the event from both the airplane and the hangar, I came away impressed by everything required to make it happen.

The logistical teamwork. The courtesy of the officials directing us. The vigilance of the Secret Service. The staff members who knew where everyone needed to be and when they needed to get there.

We rarely have visits like this in Alaska. I had an unusual opportunity to see up close the professionalism and attention to detail surrounding the vice president. Every movement had been considered. Every transition had people attending to it.

For the crowd, it was an exciting evening with the vice president and their senator. For the people responsible for the visit, it was a succession of carefully managed tasks, carried out with remarkable coordination. If there were flubs, they were not visible to the public or to the press.

For me, it was an opportunity of a lifetime.

I’m grateful to be an Alaskan, grateful to have been present, and grateful that the readers of The Alaska Story gave me a reason to be aboard that airplane.

Monday, that work took me to the Golden Heart City on Air Force Two. It is a day I will carry with me for a long time.

Suzanne Downing is founder and editor of The Alaska Story and is a longtime Alaskan.