A controversial candidate sharing the name and party affiliation of a vulnerable GOP incumbent is vowing not to go down without a fight after Alaska's top election official blocked him from the state's blockbuster Senate race. Dan J.Sullivan, the same-name challenger running against Sen.
Dan S.Sullivan, R-Alaska, filed a lawsuit to remain on the August primary ballot after Director of Elections Carol Beecher disqualified his candidacy last week.Beecher determined that Dan J.
Sullivan, a retired teacher who recently changed his party affiliation to the GOP, did not launch his campaign "in good faith" and sought to "confuse or mislead" voters at the ballot box. But counsel affiliated with the same-name candidate argues that his removal runs afoul of state law.Sen.Dan Sullivan, a Republican from Alaska, stands in the Senate Subway of the U.S.
Capitol in Washington, D.C., on June 17, 2026.(Daniel Heuer/Bloomberg)SAME-NAME CANDIDATE DISQUALIFIED FROM KEY SENATE RACE OVER ALLEGED DEM SCHEME TO CONFUSE VOTERS"Nothing in Alaska law regulates in any way the private motivations that draw individuals to declare or campaign for office," a court filing from attorneys Jeffrey Robinson, Bryn Pallesen and Zoe Eisberg obtained by The Associated Press reads. The fate of his candidacy could prove decisive in the state’s hotly contested Senate race in which Sen.
Dan S.Sullivan is seeking a third term in the Republican-leaning state.
Democrats are hoping that former Rep.Mary Peltola, D-Alaska, whom Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., helped recruit into the race, will unseat Sullivan in November.Primary ballots are expected to be printed later this month.Under Alaska’s open primary system, the top four vote-getters will advance to the November general election.Republicans have argued that Dan J.
Sullivan’s candidacy is a "sham" attempt orchestrated by Democratic operatives to potentially trip up voters and siphon off votes from the incumbent.But Democrats, incl...