{"id":1643,"date":"2026-06-23T12:37:48","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T12:37:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=1643"},"modified":"2026-06-23T12:37:48","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T12:37:48","slug":"sen-dan-sullivans-same-named-challenger-sues-to-stay-in-alaska-primary-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=1643","title":{"rendered":"Sen. Dan Sullivan\u2019s same-named challenger sues to stay in Alaska primary race"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

JUNEAU, Alaska \u2014 A man with the same name and party affiliation as Alaska Republican U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan on Monday challenged a decision by a top state elections official to disqualify his candidacy and remove him from the August primary ballot.<\/p>\n

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A court filing, on behalf of the challenger Sullivan by his attorneys, said the decision by Division of Elections Director Carol Beecher disqualifying him violates state and federal law. It asks that he be placed on the ballot. Sullivan, a retired teacher from the small fishing community of Petersburg, has maintained that he\u2019s a qualified candidate for U.S. Senate and that election officials lacked a legal basis to boot him from the ballot.<\/p>\n

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The U.S. Constitution lays out three exclusive qualifications for the Senate, addressing age, citizenship and residency, his attorneys wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing in Alaska law regulates in any way the private motivations that draw individuals to declare or campaign for office,\u201d the filing by attorneys Jeffrey Robinson, Bryn Pallesen and Zoe Eisberg states.<\/p>\n

Sullivan\u2019s entrance into the race, days before the June 1 filing deadline, drew condemnation from Sen. Sullivan and the National Republican Senatorial Committee. They called the challenger a sham candidate and alleged he was working with Democrats to boost Democratic former U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola\u2019s chances in the race. Peltola\u2019s campaign and state Democrats have denied the allegation, as has the challenger.<\/p>\n

Sen. Sullivan and Peltola are the highest-profile contenders in a race with more than a dozen candidates. It\u2019s one of the most prominent U.S. Senate races in this year\u2019s midterm elections \u2014 one both parties consider crucial to their efforts to control the chamber.<\/p>\n

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Steve Kirch, a spokesperson for the division, said the agency had no comment and does not discuss \u201congoing reviews, investigations or related proceedings.\u201d Beecher has previously noted that ballots are due to be printed on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Alaska Department of Law spokesperson Sam Curtis said the agency will defend the division\u2019s finding and looked forward to a swift ruling from the court.<\/p>\n

On June 15, a week after Republican Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom announced an investigation into the challenger Sullivan\u2019s run, Beecher disqualified him. She concluded that his declaration of candidacy \u201cwas not filed in order to declare an actual good-faith candidacy for the office of United States Senator, but was instead filed with a purpose to confuse or mislead and to thereby compromise the ballot\u2019s fairness or neutrality.\u201d<\/p>\n

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In announcing an investigation, Dahlstrom cited \u201ccredible allegations\u201d that Sullivan declared his candidacy \u201cin coordination with another candidate and campaign\u201d with an intent to confuse and \u201cmanipulate\u201d voters. But in removing the challenger from the ballot, Beecher did not mention finding any evidence of alleged coordination with Peltola or Democratic Party officials.<\/p>\n

The challenger Sullivan, when asked in an interview with The Associated Press earlier this month if he\u2019d had any contact with Peltola\u2019s campaign, responded \u201dzero, none, zilch.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beecher said she based her decision on factors including that he had registered to vote as Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. and in conjunction with his candidacy changed his party affiliation to Republican. She cited similarities between his campaign website and the senator\u2019s, and his work with a consultant whose clients have included some Democrats.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

The form congressional candidates in Alaska complete asks them how they would like to be referred to on the ballot and their preferred party affiliation.<\/p>\n

Beecher said she acted in line with a regulation that says a candidate\u2019s name may not appear on a ballot with academic or professional titles or \u201cin a manner that is confusing or misleading to voters or compromises the fairness or neutrality of the ballot.\u201d<\/p>\n

In response to questions from Democratic state Rep. Andrew Gray, legislative attorney Andrew Dunmire last week said the regulation cited by Beecher does not forbid placing Sullivan\u2019s name on the ballot. He said the elections division could comply with it by designing the ballot in a way that allows voters to distinguish between both Sullivans.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a position echoed by the attorneys for the challenger Sullivan.<\/p>\n

The challenger initially had been certified and listed on the state\u2019s candidate list as Dan J. Sullivan. The senator was listed as Dan S. Sullivan and denoted as the incumbent.<\/p>\n

Alaska has open primaries in which the top four vote-getters, regardless of party affiliation, advance to the ranked-choice general election.<\/p>\n

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A man with the same name and party affiliation as Alaska Republican U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan challenged a decision by a top state elections official to disqualify his candidacy and remove him from the August primary ballot.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1642,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2026-election"],"yoast_head":"\nSen. 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