Republican Senator Dan Sullivan cruised past a same-name rival in Alaska's Senate primary, a challenger state officials had already found was running to mislead voters on behalf of Democratic interests.
Sullivan, the two-term incumbent, dispatched retired teacher Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. on August 17 in what had become one of the most unusual primary contests in recent memory. The result ended months of concern among Republicans that a candidate with an identical surname could siphon enough votes to tilt the race toward former Democratic Congresswoman Mary Peltola, who will now face Sullivan in the November general election. The Daily Mail reported the incumbent had spent weeks warning voters about the ballot confusion.
Alaska's unusual top-four primary system, where all candidates from every party compete on a single ballot and the top four vote-getters advance, made the scheme plausible. In a crowded field, even modest confusion over two candidates sharing the same name could shift margins. That the effort failed tells you something about Alaska voters. That it was attempted at all tells you something about the people behind it.
The trouble started well before primary day. Alaska Division of Elections Director Carol Beecher issued a letter finding Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. ineligible for the Senate race. Her conclusion was blunt: the preponderance of evidence did not support his eligibility.
Breitbart reported that the Alaska Republican Party filed two formal complaints against the candidacy, including one alleging Sullivan Jr. had falsely claimed Republican Party affiliation on his declaration of candidacy. National Republican groups accused him of being a sham candidate coordinating with Democrats to help Peltola.
Beecher's finding was direct, as National Review detailed: the Division of Elections disqualified the copycat Sullivan in June after concluding he was running to mislead voters into thinking they were casting ballots for the Republican senator of the same name.
But the Alaska Supreme Court overturned the disqualification. The court ruled that a candidate's motivations for running are irrelevant to eligibility, a decision that put Sullivan Jr.'s name back on the August ballot and forced the incumbent to fight the confusion head-on.
The Department of Justice reportedly opened an investigation into the copycat campaign. A criminal indictment remained the primary mechanism that could have removed Sullivan Jr. from the ballot, but no indictment came before primary day.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's political operation insisted it had nothing to do with the scheme. On June 7, a Senate Majority PAC spokesman issued a flat denial:
"Neither Senate Majority PAC nor Majority Forward has ever communicated with Dan J. Sullivan, directly or indirectly, nor did Senate Majority PAC encourage him to run or have any involvement in his campaign."
Nine days later, Majority Forward, Schumer's nonprofit affiliate, began running an ad starring Alan Harris. Harris was no random Alaskan. He had served as the official campaign representative who filed Daniel J. Sullivan Jr.'s declaration of candidacy with Alaska election officials. Harris's romantic partner, Democratic strategist Amber Lee, was hired as Sullivan Jr.'s campaign adviser. Lee's name appeared in the metadata of his campaign launch press release. The Washington Free Beacon uncovered the connection, exposing a trail that ran from the copycat candidate's filing paperwork straight into Schumer's political apparatus.
The denial said no communication, direct or indirect. The ad said otherwise. Schumer's team has faced similar credibility problems in other Senate races this cycle, where the gap between official statements and operational reality keeps widening.
Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. denied being part of any effort to help Peltola. But his own public statements made the denial hard to take seriously. In an interview with The New York Times, the retired teacher admitted he had voted for Democratic presidential candidates in each of the last three presidential elections. He said he voted for Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski, Alaska's other senator, known for breaking with her party, and for Peltola herself.
He also attended a "No Kings" protest, a detail that fit a pattern far more consistent with progressive activism than with the Republican registration he carried onto the ballot.
Incumbent Sullivan did not hold back. Speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill in June, he accused his same-name rival of "purposely trying to trick" his constituents "to rig the election for Peltola." That accusation tracked with the Division of Elections' own finding, and with the web of Democratic operatives tied to the campaign.
President Trump weighed in on Truth Social the Monday night before the primary, urging Alaskans to pick the right Sullivan. His post spelled out the alleged scheme plainly:
"Because of the trickery in the Voting, the Crooked, Radical Left Dumocrats have put up another man named 'Dan Sullivan,' and they did this to take Votes away from our Great Senator of the same name."
Trump told voters that Democrats were "trying to 'trick' Alaskans, and treat Alaskan Voters with contempt." He directed supporters to look for "Sullivan, Dan S., Registered Republican/Incumbent" on the ballot.
The intervention reflected how seriously Republicans viewed the threat. Alaska's top-four primary meant that even modest vote-splitting could have reshuffled the general election field. In a cycle where several Senate races have tightened, losing a seat to a naming trick would have been a self-inflicted wound the party could not afford.
With the primary settled, the general election matchup is set. Sullivan, the second-term incumbent, will face Peltola in November. Democrats need to flip four Senate seats to take control of the chamber, and their strategists have identified Maine and North Carolina as top prospects. Alaska, along with Ohio, Iowa, and Texas, presents more difficult terrain.
Peltola made history in 2022 as the first Alaska Native elected to Congress, winning a special election for the state's lone House seat and then securing a full term. But she lost her 2024 reelection bid to Republican Nick Begich, and a Senate race against an entrenched incumbent on Republican-friendly ground will be a harder climb. The earlier disqualification ruling by Alaska's election director, even though it was overturned, gave voters a clear signal about what the copycat candidacy was designed to do.
Democrats have struggled with internal fractures in the Senate this session, and their path to a majority runs through states where voters have shown little appetite for progressive politics. Alaska is one of them.
The copycat scheme was exposed, investigated, litigated, overturned on a technicality, and ultimately defeated by the voters it was designed to fool. If Democrats want to win Alaska, they will have to do it the old-fashioned way, by earning votes under their own name.