(CNN) — Two Dan Sullivans will be on the ballot in November for Alaska’s Senate seat, CNN’s Decision Desk projects, an outcome that could benefit Democratic former Rep. Mary Peltola’s bid to flip the seat.
While incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan and Peltola were virtual locks to advance from last week’s all-party primary, where the top four vote finishers regardless of party affiliation continue to the general election, political newcomer and former school teacher Dan J. Sullivan secured his spot with just a few percentage points of the vote.
The ascent of Sullivan’s same-name challenger realizes a long-held GOP fear in Alaska, where voters will use a ranked-choice voting system in November. With two Dan Sullivans on the ballot, Republicans are increasingly concerned that newcomer Sullivan, who filed to run as a Republican, will confuse voters and split the vote in what is shaping up to be a highly competitive race.
To retake the Senate, Democrats must secure a net gain of at least four seats in November, and the national party has poured millions into its bet that the one-and-a-half-term former congresswoman can defeat the incumbent.
Early on, Sen. Sullivan accused Democratic leaders of planting Dan J. Sullivan in the race to confuse voters — an allegation Dan J. Sullivan and top Democrats deny — and urged Alaskan state officials to remove his challenger’s name from the ballot, with the backing of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
Despite pressure from Alaska Division of Elections Director Carol Beecher, who concluded that Dan J. Sullivan was ineligible for the ballot, the Petersburg man challenged the decision and ultimately took his case to the Alaska Supreme Court, which ordered officials to place him on the primary ballot.
It was left up to the elections division, however, to determine how he appeared on last week’s ballot.
The challenger was listed as Daniel J. Sullivan, Jr., with no mention of his party affiliation, on the ballot, while the sitting senator was listed as Dan S. Sullivan, with his status as the Republican incumbent noted.
In making the case to disqualify Dan J. Sullivan, Republicans pointed to his past campaign contributions and the metadata of his campaign announcement, which ties the document to Amber Lee, a consultant who has publicly supported Peltola in the past.
According to Federal Election Commission filings, either a Daniel or Dan Sullivan in Petersburg has donated $650 to ActBlue, the Democratic Party’s main fundraising platform, in recent years, including contributions earmarked for Peltola’s House campaigns in 2022 and 2024. There is no evidence of contributions to Republican campaigns from a Daniel or Dan Sullivan in Petersberg, FEC filings show.
Describing himself as a “pragmatic Republican centrist,” Dan J. Sullivan told the Petersburg Pilot in June that he backs candidates in both parties, and even compared himself to Alaska’s other GOP senator, Lisa Murkowski, a swing vote in the Senate who is often at odds with President Donald Trump and out of favor with the base. The former fifth-grade teacher also appeared to confirm he enlisted Lee, contending he found her when looking up consultants online.
Despite the scrutiny, the challenger insists his campaign is legitimate and has dismissed concerns that he would confuse the electorate.
“I have every right to stand up and do this,” he told the newspaper. “It’s my name, my grandfather’s name: Dan Sullivan. My dad’s name: Dan Sullivan.”
With no political experience, Dan J. Sullivan’s campaign has focused on his work as an educator and with the US Forestry Service in Alaska. He said he felt called to run because he felt the incumbent had not done enough to call out Trump’s second term agenda.
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