Republican Dan Sullivan might want to shake up the Senate, but it was Sullivan who was shaken up Thursday when a 6.2 magnitude earthquake interrupted a major endorsement announcement.
Sullivan, who is challenging Sen. Mark Begich in Alaska, was receiving an endorsement from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce when the temblor hit. The quake’s epicenter was just 80 miles outside of Anchorage, where the press conference was being held, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Video from a network news affiliate captured the moment when the earthquake hit. Rob Engstrom, a spokesman for the Chamber of Commerce, was responding to a question from a reporter, with Sullivan next to him. Sullivan remained calm, and even laughed a bit as the shaking picked up.
Once the group had moved outside, the press conference continued informally.
“That was Sen. Begich shaking in his boots because he knows that fundamentally he’s about to lose this election,” Rob Engstrom, a spokesman for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said to nervous laughs.
Begich and Sullivan are locked in a tight contest that could decide what party holds a majority in the U.S. Senate.
