JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Republican U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan is seeking a third term in the Senate in a primary election that includes a unusual complication: one of his 15 opponents carries the exact same name. The incumbent senator, who has served since 2015, said the presence of a second Dan Sullivan on the primary ballot is a deliberate attempt to deceive voters and steal the election, and he accused the Democratic Party and the Peltola campaign of orchestrating the tactic.
Sullivan, speaking to reporters in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, alleged that the other Dan Sullivan, who is not registered with a political party, is running solely to siphon votes by capitalizing on his name recognition.
“Everybody in Alaska knows I’m Dan Sullivan-R. So he’s trying to do that. Why?” the senator said. “He’s not an R. He’s purposely trying to trick my constituents to rig the election for Peltola.”
The identity of the other Dan Sullivan — his background, profession, and whether he has any campaign infrastructure — was not immediately clear from the public ballot filings reported by the Associated Press. The senator did not name the other candidate’s city of residence or occupation in his remarks.
Harry Child, a spokesman for the Peltola campaign, denied any connection to the other Sullivan candidate. “It has no involvement with either Sullivan campaign,” Child said in a statement. Jenny-Marie Stryker, executive director of the Alaska Democratic Party, gave a parallel denial. “The Alaska Democratic Party is in no way affiliated with either Dan Sullivan for U.S. Senate campaign,” Stryker said.
Sullivan threatened to pursue legal action to uncover who is behind the candidacy of his name-alike. He did not specify what legal theory he would rely on or what relief he would seek. Under Alaska’s unique election system, all candidates — regardless of party — appear on a single primary ballot, and the top four finishers advance to the November general election, which is conducted by ranked-choice voting. The system, which voters adopted in 2020 and narrowly affirmed in 2024, means a candidate with identical name recognition could potentially split the incumbent’s support among voters who do not carefully read the ballot.
The race marks a high-stakes rematch between Sullivan and Peltola, who defeated him in a 2022 special election for the U.S. House before losing to him for a full House term in 2024. Peltola announced her Senate bid in January, positioning herself as a top Democratic pickup target. Alaska’s Senate seat is widely seen as competitive, following a series of close statewide elections.
The two-and-a-half-month gap to the August primary leaves both candidates maneuvering in a state where name confusion has been a documented issue in past elections, particularly in local and legislative races with similar-sounding or identical names. The Sullivan name duplication is among the first of the 2026 cycle to draw national attention, with observers watching whether it could meaningfully distort the outcome of a tight race. MSI previously covered Peltola’s entry into the Senate race in January.