SEEING DOUBLE: Second Dan Sullivan advances, setting up bizarre Alaska Senate ballot
Dan J. Sullivan Jr., a Senate candidate in Alaska who has made headlines for sharing a name with incumbent Sen. Dan S. Sullivan, R-Alaska, has officially advanced to the general election, The Associated Press announced on Wednesday.
He joins Sen. Sullivan and former Rep. Mary Peltola, D-Alaska, as the third of the final four candidates.
Alaska has yet to announce the fourth.
Sullivan Jr.’s advance, which seemed likely after the polls closed last Tuesday, complicates the picture for Republicans as they work against the clock to explain why two candidates have the same name — as well as which one to vote for. Unlike the primary, the general election picture is further clouded by ranked-choice voting (RCV), which raises more questions about how voters will react to the name overlap.
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Under this system, voters rank their preferred candidates. If their top choice is eliminated, their support passes on to their next-ranked option. While supporters of the process argue it expands voters' power and greatly increases the influence of candidates that may not otherwise be a top choice, critics — like Sen. Sullivan — believe it also introduces confusion.
"Like many others who did not support ranked choice voting in 2020, I still believe that this new election system has created unnecessary confusion among voters," Sullivan told local Alaskan media in 2024.
Fears of that confusion were amplified by the emergence of the second Sullivan.
Sullivan Jr., a logger, appeared among the 16 candidates on the ballot as an independent in last week's primary, snapping up 2.5% of the vote. Sullivan Jr.’s campaign announcement did not list a party affiliation. His website does not state his position on any political issues.
Instead, it leaned into the name overlap. "Dan Sullivan challenges Dan Sullivan for U.S. Senate Seat, urges Alaskans to defeat incumbent, elect a Sullivan who stands up for Alaska," it read.
According to his biography, Sullivan Jr. spent his early career working blue-collar jobs like logging, construction, bartending and forestry but decided to enter his bid for Senate after growing frustrated with government mismanagement.
A Fox News Digital review of the campaign earlier this year uncovered that Amber Lee, a progressive consultant, had helped author some of Sullivan Jr.’s campaign materials. Lee previously supported Peltola, the former congresswoman.
The campaign has drawn criticism from Republicans who believe it’s an effort to put two "Dan Sullivans" on the ballot in November and, through ranked choice voting, intentionally draw away votes from the senator.
Alaska state Sen. James Kaufman, a Republican, said he personally remains worried about conflation between the two.
He believes there are still some voters in Alaska, especially Republicans, who refuse to use the RCV system, citing disagreements with its implementation.
"Some people have a pretty strong traditionalist perspective: one person, one man, one vote," Kaufman said.
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"And so, the ballot fatigue where people just don’t rank because maybe they disagree with it; there’s a pretty strong segment of the population here that just patently disagrees with the ranked-choice voting system we ended up with. And they don’t necessarily believe in utilizing it."
Having cleared the primary, Sen. Sullivan, Sullivan Jr. and Peltola will face off in the general election on Nov. 3.