There can solely be one Dan Sullivan on the poll.
Alaska’s prime election official dominated Monday that retired instructor Dan J. Sullivan is disqualified from working as a Republican in opposition to Sen. Dan S. Sullivan (R-Alaska) in one of many best Senate races within the nation.
Dan J. Sullivan, 69, had filed to run simply earlier than the deadline, elevating issues that voter confusion over their two an identical names might undermine Sen. Sullivan, 61, in Alaska’s distinctive top-four major system.
“The preponderance of the proof is that you simply selected this new nickname and occasion affiliation as a result of that identify and occasion affiliation occur to be the identify and occasion affiliation of one other candidate within the race,” Alaska Division of Elections Director Carol Beecher concluded in a letter to the retired instructor.
Beecher famous how the retired instructor from Petersburg appeared to have by no means registered to vote or sought poll entry underneath the identify “Dan Sullivan.”
As an alternative, he used “Daniel J. Sullivan Jr.”
“I conclude that your declaration of candidacy was not correctly filed with the Division as a result of it was not filed with the intention to declare an precise good-faith candidacy for the workplace of United States Senator, however was as an alternative filed with a goal to confuse or mislead,” Beecher additional wrote in a letter to Dan J. Sullivan.
She famous how the instructor from Petersburg “initially emailed the Division asking to be listed on the poll as ‘Dan S. Sullivan.’”
“‘S’ is Senator Sullivan’s center preliminary, not yours.”
She additionally noticed how he solely turned a Republican two days earlier than submitting, how his marketing campaign web site had some related design language to that of Sen. Sullivan’s, and the way he was working with a political advisor against the incumbent senator, contending that he was not performing in “good religion.”
“[T]hese information pressure the conclusion that your declaration of candidacy was filed with the aim of complicated or deceptive the citizens and compromising the equity of the poll by making an attempt to entry the poll underneath a model you could have by no means used (‘Dan Sullivan’),” she wrote.
Beecher gave Dan J. Sullivan 30 days to enchantment the choice and known as the state of affairs “unprecedented” in Alaskan political historical past.
The Put up reached out to the marketing campaign for remark.
“Each Alaskan has the proper to a free and honest election, free from deception and gamesmanship,” Sen. Sullivan’s marketing campaign supervisor Billy Mackey stated in a press release.
Mackey blasted Dan J. Sullivan as “a sham candidate whose major goal was to confuse Alaskan voters, deal with Alaskans with contempt, and rig the election for Peltola.”
Alaska has a novel major system, the place the highest 4 contestants of any political occasion advance to the final election, which includes a ranked-choice voting scheme.
Alongside Maine, North Carolina, and Ohio, Alaska is extensively seen as one of many Democrats’ prime 4 Senate pickup alternatives of 2026.
Democrats have recruited former Rep. Mary Peltola (D-Alaska), who held the state’s at-large congressional district from 2022 to 2025. Republicans barely managed to beat her within the 2024 election.
Sparse polling exhibits her neck-and-neck with Sen. Sullivan. Given Alaska’s ranked-choice voting system, Republicans are involved about his seat.
