The October Surprise in Alaska: Democrats, a Second Dan Sullivan, and the Senate Majority
An explosive report from The New York Times has confirmed what many Alaska political observers long suspected: the Democratic campaign for the state’s U.S. Senate seat actively worked to place a second candidate named Dan Sullivan on the ballot to siphon votes from the Republican incumbent, reported Wednesday. With control of the Senate hanging in the balance ahead of next week’s midterm elections, the revelation has thrust Alaska’s unique ranked-choice voting system into the national spotlight and triggered immediate legal and political fallout.
The scheme centered on recruiting individuals who shared the exact name of two-term Republican incumbent Senator Dan Sullivan. According to text messages obtained by The New York Times, staffers and lawyers working with Democratic nominee Mary Peltola spent months hunting for a namesake candidate. They eventually landed on Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., a retired schoolteacher living in the small fishing community of Petersburg.
How the S namesake Made the Ballot
Despite early denials from the Peltola campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), text messages show that DSCC staffers were actively participating in strategy discussions regarding the second Sullivan. The retired teacher successfully cleared the state’s open primary in August, securing a spot as one of four candidates on the ranked-choice general election ballot for November 3.
Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. has consistently maintained that he ran independently of any party coordination. Following his primary breakthrough, he stated his contact with Peltola’s campaign was “zero, none, zilch.” On Wednesday, he did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press, and the Peltola campaign likewise did not immediately respond to CNN’s requests for comment.
The maneuver immediately drew pushback from state election authorities. A top Alaska elections official ruled the second Sullivan ineligible for the ballot, arguing the candidacy was “filed with a purpose to confuse or mislead and to thereby compromise the ballot’s fairness or neutrality.” However, the Alaska Supreme Court overturned that decision, ruling that the candidate met the foundational age, citizenship and residency requirements set out by the U.S. Constitution for aspiring senators.
BREAKING: NYT reports that operatives with Democratic Alaska U.S. Senate candidate Mary Peltola’s campaign were behind the effort to find & recruit a candidate named Dan Sullivan to run against incumbent GOP Senator Dan S. Sullivan in an effort to confuse voters and peel votes…
Trump Calls for Justice Department Lawsuit over Ballot Presence
The confirmation of the recruitment effort has intensified partisan warfare over the race. Nate Adams, a spokesperson for Senator Sullivan’s campaign, didn’t mince words following the report’s release. Alaskans deserve the truth,
Adams said, accusing Peltola, her advisers, and national Democratic operatives of colluding to deliberately confuse and deceive voters.
President Donald Trump weighed in sharply on social media Wednesday, directing the U.S. Department of Justice to file a pre-emptive lawsuit challenging a potential Peltola victory due to the confusing ballot presence. Trump called for direct accountability, writing that Mary Peltola should suffer the Legal and Political consequences for what she has done.
Legal scholars suggest the newly unearthed text messages will carry little weight in the courtroom. Derek Muller, a Notre Dame law professor, noted that while the tactic amounts to a dirty campaign trick that is good reason the Alaska Supreme Court should have permitted the candidate to have been removed from the ballot,
the matter ultimately rests with the electorate. But now it’s in the hands of the voters, not litigation,
Muller observed.
A History of Ballot Maneuvering in Alaska
This is not the first time Alaska’s electoral machinery has weathered controversies over ballot qualifications. In 2024, the state Democratic Party sued to keep off the U.S. House ballot a candidate serving time in a federal prison in New York with no local ties. A divided state Supreme Court allowed that candidate to remain, and he is running again this year on the November 3 ballot.
Reporting on the inner workings of Peltola's campaign was supported by interviews with Elisa Rios, Peltola's former campaign manager. Rios, who was fired in August amid a broader staff shake-up, told reporters that Peltola herself was not directly involved in the naming strategy but was “definitely aware” of the efforts. Rios reportedly attempted to retract her comments last week.
As election day approaches, early voting is already well underway. According to AP data, 46,204 ballots had already been cast across Alaska as of Monday. While recent polling—including a New York Times/Siena poll—previously showed Peltola leading the incumbent senator, the late-breaking confirmation of ballot engineering adds an unpredictable layer of tension to a contest that could decide the national balance of power.
Democrats with Mary Peltola’s campaign just got caught trying to confuse Alaska voters with a second candidate named Dan Sullivan. This is election interference and needs to be prosecuted as such.The New York Times reported Wednesday that operatives with Mary Peltola’s campaign…
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The guy behind the phony Dan Sullivan candidate on Alaska's ballot is the former campaign manager for Sen. Raphael Warnock: Inside Democrats’ Secret Effort to Stack Alaska’s Ballot https://t.co/k7VRMOd1Bx
ALASKA'S TWO DAN SULLIVANS: NEW REPORT REVEALS EFFORT TO SHAPE SENATE BALLOTOn October 28, 2026, The New York Times published an investigation into efforts by Democratic political operatives to recruit candidates who could take votes away from Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan.The…
