- Sen. Dan S. Sullivan accuses opponent Dan J. Sullivan Jr. of running to confuse voters.
- Dan J. Sullivan Jr. asserts his candidacy is legitimate and not deceptive.
- Alaska’s lieutenant governor launched an investigation into the legitimacy of Dan J. Sullivan Jr.’s candidacy.
- Allegations propose an unprecedented situation of confusion in the election process.
U.S. GOP Sen. Dan Sullivan is running for reelection in Alaska. One of his 15 competitors is ... Dan Sullivan.
Sen. Dan S. Sullivan has accused Dan J. Sullivan Jr., a former schoolteacher living in Petersburg, of running with the intention to confuse voters and give an advantage to former U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola, a Democrat. The incumbent called Sullivan Jr.’s candidacy a “dirty political trick” and threatened a lawsuit.
“Alaskans deserve a fair and honest election — not political games meant to manipulate the ballot and benefit Democrats,” Sen. Sullivan’s campaign said in a statement Monday.
Sen. Sullivan worries having two Dan Sullivans on the ballot could confuse voters.
Dan J. Sullivan, the candidate, said the Alaskan government has “no legal basis” to exclude his name from the ballot.
“Doing so would violate my rights and be an affront to Alaska voters,” he wrote in a letter to the director of elections, responding to the allegations.
Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom, a Republican who oversees Alaskan elections, launched an investigation Monday to determine if Sullivan Jr.’s candidacy was “properly filed with a good-faith intention to serve” or “with the intention of confusing Alaskan voters in a way that will benefit one candidate over another.”
Dahlstrom’s investigation will determine whether or not Sullivan Jr. will be on the ballot; and if so, how the ballot might be altered to avoid voter confusion.
Allegations against Sullivan Jr. present an ‘unprecedented situation’
Dan J. Sullivan Jr. announced his candidacy in a press release in late May shortly before the June 1 filing deadline.
A few days later, the National Republican Senatorial Committee sent a complaint to the Federal Election Commission, imploring them to investigate Sullivan, claiming his candidacy was filed to mislead voters.
The committee said there was reason to believe he was running as a plant, adding that he “has a documented history of supporting Democrats, including Sen. Sullivan’s opponent, Democrat Mary Peltola.”
Dahlstrom said the allegations that Sullivan Jr. declared candidacy to confuse voters are “credible” and, if proven, create “an unprecedented situation.”
“The allegations here, if true, would amount to not only deception of voters but diminish the rights of another candidate solely for the purpose of diverting valid votes and sowing confusion among voters,” Dahlstrom wrote.
Sullivan Jr. acknowledged that sharing a name with the incumbent senator gives him “an instant megaphone” but denied that his campaign was planned to deceive voters.
“I am running because I am tired of sitting back and watching our current senator routinely fail to represent the interests of ordinary Alaskans like me,” he wrote in the letter to the director of elections. “The fact that Sen. Sullivan shares my first and last names adds insult to injury, motivating me to raise my hand as an alternative choice.”
Sullivan Jr. said he has been considering running for the Senate for more than a decade, and his decision was not influenced by an outside party.
“This is my choice,” told The Associated Press, adding that he has had “zero, none, zilch” contact with Peltola’s campaign.
Sullivan Jr.’s party loyalty is called into question
Sullivan Jr. is running as a Republican candidate. He did not register as Republican until filing to run for office. Previously, he was listed as undeclared. His choice to run as a Republican was influenced by his late father — a “true, compassionate, conservative Republican,” Sullivan Jr. said.
His loyalties to the party, however, have been questioned due to him receiving excessive in-kind contributions from Amber Lee Strategies LLC, “a consulting firm with an exclusively progressive client roster,” the National Republican Senatorial Committee wrote in the complaint.
Lee’s firm has received thousands of dollars from a federal super PAC that has supported Peltola, the complaint said.
The complaint also revealed that the press release announcing Sullivan Jr.’s candidacy was written by Lee, according to the document’s metadata, and the candidate admitted Lee helped create his campaign logo, which is similar to Sen. Sullivan’s logo.
While some accuse Dan J. Sullivan Jr. of filing to intentionally confuse voters, giving Peltola a leg-up in the election, Sullivan Jr. has said sharing a name with the incumbent is simply “a matter of fate.”
Sullivan Jr. says election office has ‘no legal basis’ to exclude him
Given that Sullivan Jr. has all the necessary requirements to run for office — he is a registered voter, older than 30, a lifelong U.S. citizen, Alaskan resident and filed his candidacy on time — he said Alaska law requires that his name be allowed on the ballot.
The candidate cited Title 6, Section 25.260 of the Alaska Administrative Code that says complaints are “limited to the grounds cited in the complaint that are related to candidate qualifications (emphasis added) addressed in the candidate’s declaration of candidacy.” Because the NRSC’s complaint does not have to do with qualifications, Sullivan Jr. said the division of elections does not have authority to exclude his name from the ballot.
“As far as I am aware, there is no Alaska or federal law that gives the NRSC the exclusive right to determine who may run as a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate,” Sullivan Jr. wrote in the letter. “If such a right did exist, we would not need primary elections at all — the NRSC could just pick our nominees.”
The investigation continues as the primary approaches
Dahlstrom said the candidate’s letter responding to the allegations “did not adequately respond to the specific allegations that (his) candidacy is motivated by an intent to deceive Alaskan voters” and requested he send an affidavit answering several questions to prove legality of his candidacy.
The lieutenant governor asked the candidate to include, in his affidavit, whether he would object to his name appearing as “Sullivan, Daniel James Jr. (non-incumbent)” on the ballot, if his candidacy is declared genuine. This listing does not acknowledge him as a Republican candidate.
Sullivan Jr. said Alaska law requires his name be on the ballot as a Republican candidate. He proposed including his middle initial to avoid confusion.
The Alaskan primary election for senator will be held on Aug. 18. It will be an open primary and the top four vote-getters, regardless of their party, will advance to the November general election.
Identical names on the ballot are unusual, but similar names are not
Alaska’s Senate race is not the first race to feature candidates with similar names.
The Utah ballot for the 2024 gubernatorial election featured three candidates with the last name Lyman. Phil Lyman, then a U.S. Rep., ran a write-in campaign against Richard and Carol Lyman, who both ran as write-in candidates.
In 2025, 215 contests across 15 featured candidates with the same last name, according to Ballotpedia.
All 438 of these candidates were running in a local election, and all but one of the contests was nonpartisan. The race for a seat on the District 20 New York City Council was the only partisan contest where candidates shared a last name, per the election tracker.