Will the real Dan Sullivan please stand up? Alaska GOP works to keep another Dan Sullivan off the open primary ballot

Marine veteran and former Alaska Attorney General Daniel S. Sullivan has served in the U.S. Senate since 2015 and is now seeking re-election. The Anchorage-based Republican’s route to victory is anything but assured, especially with Democratic challenger and former Rep. Mary Peltola leading him in recent polls.

The Alaska Division of Elections appears, however, to be eliminating at least one obstacle to Sullivan’s success in the Last Frontier’s Aug. 18 nonpartisan top-four primary, namely Daniel J. Sullivan of Petersburg.

‘The preponderance of evidence does not support your eligibility.’

J. Sullivan, a 69-year-old retired teacher who was born in the Midwest, reportedly registered as a Republican earlier this year and entered the race to oust Sen. S. Sullivan on May 29, just before the deadline for filing.

The namesake challenger said that he had “every right to stand up and do this” and characterized himself as a “pragmatic Republican centrist.”

Something stinks

The newly minted Republican’s candidacy didn’t pass the smell test where Sen. S. Sullivan, other Alaska Republicans, and the National Republican Senatorial Committee were concerned.

Sen. S. Sullivan told CNN earlier this month that J. Sullivan’s candidacy was effectively a Democratic effort to “cheat.”

The senator said, “Democrats recruited a guy by the name of Dan Sullivan. He is a liberal progressive, right. We’ve seen it — his donations to all the far-left groups. He’s donated to Peltola, OK. His whole purpose of running is to confuse Alaskans.”

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Ex-Rep. Mary Peltola (D). Ellen Schmidt/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Tribune News Service/Getty Images.

Alaska’s News Source confirmed that a Dan Sullivan with a Petersburg zip code had previously donated to Peltola campaigns — in 2022 and in 2024. A spokesman for Peltola’s campaign has denied involvement with J. Sullivan’s Senate bid.

The NRSC filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission on June 6, stating that “there is reason to believe Daniel J. Sullivan and Amber Lee of Amber Lee Strategies have engaged in a coordinated scheme to launch a U.S. Senate candidacy in violation of the Federal Election Act’s prohibition on fraudulent misrepresentation of campaign authority at 52 U.S.C. §30124.”

Blake Murphy, general counsel for the NRSC, noted in the complaint that:

J. Sullivan’s campaign logo and website “closely mimics” that of S. Sullivan’s campaign branding;

J. Sullivan has donated to Peltola;

the press release promoting J. Sullivan’s candidacy for Senate was authored by Amber Lee, a Democratic consultant and Peltola supporter; and

FEC records show that Amber Lee Strategies has received thousands of dollars for “PAC Strategy Consulting” from a federal PAC that has supported Peltola.

Murphy suggested that the purpose of J. Sullivan and Lee’s alleged fraudulent misrepresentation was to “deceive and mislead Alaskan voters to the detriment of another candidate.”

The NRSC asked the FEC to investigate the matter and — in the event that wrongdoing is confirmed and found willful — refer it to the Justice Department for further review.

The Alaska Republican Party separately filed a pair of complaints with the state’s Division of Election. One of the complaints claimed that J. Sullivan’s candidacy was improper because his declaration of candidacy said he was affiliated with the GOP despite having an “undeclared” political affiliation at the time, reported the Anchorage Daily News.

Disqualification

Alaska Lt. Gov Nancy Dahlstrom notified J. Sullivan on June 8 that she had requested an investigation into his eligibility, claiming that the allegations against him were credible.

On Wednesday, Carol Beecher, director of the Division of Elections, delivered the namesake challenger some bad news, writing, “Based on a review of the evidence presented and in the [Division of Elections’] possession, the Division has determined that the preponderance of evidence does not support your eligibility for the office of United States senator.”

Beecher gave J. Sullivan until 5 p.m. on Thursday to respond to the Alaska GOP’s complaints, after which time she said a final determination would be made.

The namesake challenger said in response that Dahlstrom’s “actions create the impression that the state government is being used to protect an incumbent senator from facing competition at the ballot box. That’s not how elections should work.”

“I am a qualified candidate who followed the rules and filed to run for office under my legal name. Yet, unsupported accusations have been given credibility while political operatives continue their effort to keep me off the ballot,” continued J. Sullivan. “The people of Alaska are fully capable of deciding for themselves who should represent them in Washington.”

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