Alaska’s Senate race has a ballot manipulation problem: voters may see two Republican candidates named Dan Sullivan on the August primary ballot.
One is the incumbent, Republican U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan. The other is Dan J. Sullivan, a retired elementary schoolteacher from Petersburg who moved to Alaska nearly 50 years ago, first working for the U.S. Forest Service before becoming a teacher. The Alaska Division of Elections initially disqualified his candidacy after finding that he entered the race to confuse voters. The Alaska Supreme Court reversed that decision, holding that the challenger’s motive for running did not determine his legal eligibility to appear on the ballot.
National Review reports that the second Sullivan did not simply happen to share the senator’s name. He allegedly filed under a version of his name he had not historically used, one that more closely matched the incumbent’s ballot identity. His campaign also launched a website that reportedly resembled the senator’s campaign site.
According to National Review, the challenger’s campaign appears connected to a network of Democratic political operatives with ties to former Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola, who is running against Sen. Sullivan. The report does not establish that Peltola or the Alaska Democratic Party directly organized the candidacy, and both have denied involvement.
Still, the connections reported by National Review are notable.
The challenger’s son, Noah Sullivan, previously worked for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, first as an intern in his legislative office and later as a field representative for his reelection campaign. Kreiss-Tomkins, who has also worked as a political consultant, has ties to Alaska consultant James Lottsfeldt.
Lottsfeldt served as treasurer of the Vote Alaska Before Party PAC, a super PAC supporting Peltola. He also previously served as treasurer of a PAC created to oppose Sullivan during the senator’s first Senate campaign in 2014. National Review reported that Lottsfeldt Strategies received $23,000 from the Peltola-aligned PAC in February 2025, and that Lottsfeldt and Kreiss-Tomkins co-hosted a launch event for Kreiss-Tomkins’ gubernatorial campaign earlier this year.
Neither Lottsfeldt nor Kreiss-Tomkins responded to National Review’s questions about whether they recruited the second Sullivan to run in the Senate race.
The challenger also hired progressive political consultant Amber Lee, who has worked for Democratic-aligned groups and campaigns in Alaska and has publicly supported Peltola. National Review reported that Lee authored the challenger’s campaign announcement, based on metadata in a PDF posted online. Lee previously worked for Lottsfeldt Strategies when the firm received money from the Peltola-aligned PAC, though her biography has since been removed from the company’s website. Lee did not respond to National Review’s request for comment.
National Review also reported that Kreiss-Tomkins has consulting ties beyond Alaska, including to Nebraska independent Senate candidate Dan Osborn. Osborn’s campaign has faced a Federal Election Commission complaint alleging that campaign funds were improperly routed to firms connected to his wife. The pattern suggests a coordinated national strategy, not an isolated local scheme.
Sen. Sullivan has been blunt about what he thinks is happening.
“Everybody in Alaska knows I’m Dan Sullivan-R. So he’s trying to do that. Why? He’s not an R. He’s purposely trying to trick my constituents to rig the election for Peltola,” Sullivan told reporters.
The stakes are real. Alaska’s top-four primary advances candidates to a ranked-choice general election, meaning even modest vote-splitting caused by a same-name candidate could affect the outcome.
Alaska Lieutenant Governor Nancy Dahlstrom requested an investigation after Republicans raised concerns about the candidacy. She warned the challenger that declarations of candidacy are filed under penalty of perjury.
“I’m troubled by the allegation that you filed for office in coordination with another campaign with the intention of confusing Alaskan voters in a way that will benefit one candidate over another,” Dahlstrom wrote. “If true, it suggests that your declaration of candidacy, which was submitted under penalty of perjury, was not genuine and not properly filed.”
National Review further reported that the Justice Department is investigating the challenger’s campaign. Unless that investigation results in his removal, Alaska voters will see two Dan Sullivans on the August ballot.
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