Alaska Senate Ballot Features Second Dan Sullivan Amid Text Message Revelations

The U.S. Senate race in Alaska includes two candidates named Dan Sullivan on the ballot for the November 3 general election. The presence of the second candidate has intensified scrutiny over the campaign strategies employed by Democrats in a race that could determine control of the Senate chamber.

The New York Times reported Wednesday that text messages between members of Mary Peltola’s campaign discussed the possibility of placing a candidate with the same name as Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan on the ballot. The objective was to create confusion among voters. The campaign eventually selected Dan J. Sullivan, a retired schoolteacher from Petersburg, a small fishing community in Southeast Alaska.

Dan J. Sullivan, listed on the ballot as Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. with no party affiliation, has long stated he was not running at the behest of Democrats. In June, after announcing his candidacy, he told reporters he had no contact with Peltola’s team. “Zero, none, zilch,” he said at the time. He did not respond to a message seeking comment Wednesday from The Associated Press.

The path to the ballot involved legal challenges. A top state elections official initially ruled Dan J. Sullivan ineligible, stating his candidacy was filed with a purpose to confuse or mislead voters. The case went to the Alaska Supreme Court, which ruled that he was qualified to run. The U.S. Constitution sets out only age, citizenship, and residency requirements for Senate candidates.

President Donald Trump directed the Department of Justice to file a lawsuit last week to pre-emptively contest a potential win by Peltola due to the second Sullivan’s presence on the ballot. On Wednesday, Trump called for legal penalties against Democrats. “Mary Peltola should suffer the Legal and Political consequences for what she has done,” Trump wrote on his social media site.

Nate Adams, a spokesperson for Sen. Sullivan’s campaign, said Alaskans deserve the truth. He accused Peltola, her senior advisers, and national Democrat operatives of colluding to recruit candidates to deliberately confuse and deceive voters. Peltola’s campaign issued a statement Wednesday saying it has no involvement with either Sullivan campaign. They issued a similar statement in June after Sen. Sullivan first questioned the other candidate’s run.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee also denied involvement in a campaign trick. “The DSCC is not involved with Dan J. Sullivan,” the organization said in a statement Wednesday. The Times report indicated that DSCC staffers were on texts with the Peltola campaign discussing the second Sullivan. The report is based partly on interviews with Elisa Rios, Peltola’s former campaign manager, who was fired in August. The newspaper said she tried to retract her comments last week.

Legal experts said the new information about the recruitment process will not impact the lawsuit filed by the Department of Justice. Derek Muller, a law professor at Notre Dame, said the situation was a dirty campaign trick but that the matter is now in the hands of voters rather than litigation. The U.S. Constitution does not provide specific mechanisms for removing candidates based on name confusion once they have qualified through state courts.

Alaska has seen ballot challenges before. In 2024, the state Democratic Party sued to remove a man from the U.S. House ballot who had no apparent ties to the state and was serving time in a federal prison in New York. A divided state Supreme Court allowed him to remain on the ballot. He is running again this year and appears on the November 3 ranked vote general election ballot.

As of Monday, 46,204 ballots had been cast in Alaska, according to AP data. Sen. Sullivan is listed on the ballot as the Republican incumbent. The other Sullivan is listed as Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. Voters will use ranked choice voting to select their preference in the general election.