A Republican named Dan Sullivan is running against incumbent Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan for his Alaska Senate seat, and party officials are challenging the candidacy as an effort to help Democrat Mary Peltola.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) on June 9. Alaska Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom, a Republican who oversees state elections, opened an investigation on June 8 into the challenger's declaration of candidacy.
Both actions target Daniel James Sullivan Jr. of Petersburg—a former U.S. Forest Service employee and elementary school teacher, according to his campaign, who on May 29 filed to run in Alaska's Aug. 18 Senate primary as a Republican.
He shares a first and last name with the two-term incumbent, first elected in 2014. The state's online candidate list distinguishes the two by middle initial, Dan S. Sullivan for the senator and Dan J. Sullivan for the challenger.
Peltola, a former U.S. representative, is also running. Under Alaska's open primary, the top four finishers regardless of party advance to a ranked-choice general election.
In the complaint, signed by NRSC General Counsel Blake Murphy, the committee alleges that the challenger and Amber Lee, an Alaska political consultant, violated a federal ban on fraudulent misrepresentation of campaign authority. The NRSC describes the candidacy as a sham, saying it is meant to confuse voters and benefit Peltola.
The committee says its evidence includes campaign branding the NRSC says mimics the incumbent's logo and website; metadata on the challenger's launch release that the complaint says identifies Lee as its author, citing a New York Times report; and FEC records the complaint says show Lee's firm was paid for "PAC Strategy Consulting" by Vote Alaska Before Party PAC, a super PAC that has also supported Peltola.
The complaint's exhibits also list donations from a Dan Sullivan of Petersburg to Peltola—$100 in 2022 and $30 in 2024—and to other Democrats.
On his campaign website, the challenger framed his campaign as an effort to unseat the incumbent, urging Alaskans to "elect a Sullivan that actually stands up for Alaska."
Dahlstrom notified the challenger on June 8 that the state had opened an investigation into his declaration of candidacy before deciding whether and how his name will appear on the ballot.
"The Division of Elections has a fundamental obligation to protect the integrity of Alaska's elections and ensure voters are not deceived about the identity of the candidates on their ballot," she said in a statement.
In a three-page letter, she asked the challenger to respond under oath to questions about his party history and any direct or indirect contact with another Senate candidate or an agent of the Democratic Party, set a noon Wednesday deadline, and asked whether he would object to appearing on the ballot as "Sullivan, Daniel James Jr. (non-incumbent)."
The incumbent Sullivan's campaign welcomed the investigation.
"Lieutenant Governor Nancy Dahlstrom's letter makes clear that Alaska's elections will not be a playground for deception," campaign spokesman Nate Adams said in a statement, adding that the campaign hoped the challenger's "phony candidacy" would "come to a swift end."
His challenger rejected those claims.
"This is my choice," he told The Associated Press in a telephone interview, adding that he had "zero, none, zilch" contact with Peltola's campaign and that no national Democratic operatives or members of the state Democratic Party asked him to run.
He called sharing the senator's name "a matter of fate" and described himself as a "pragmatic Republican centrist."
In a June 3 letter to election officials, he wrote, "I have every right to run for Senate," saying he met the constitutional qualifications and filed under his legal name. He said he had affiliated with the Alaskan Independence Party for decades until it dissolved, leaving him undeclared until he registered as a Republican to file.
A Peltola spokesperson, Harry Child, said the campaign "has no involvement with either Sullivan campaign." Alaska Democratic Party executive director Jenny-Marie Stryker said the party "is in no way affiliated with either Dan Sullivan." A Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) spokesperson, Monica Robinson, said "no" when asked whether the group urged the challenger to run.
The Epoch Times reached out to Peltola’s campaign, the challenging Sullivan, the DSCC, and Lee for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.