The Moose Sticker and the Ballot Confusion in Anchorage
Two Dan Sullivans on the same general election ballot have turned a high-stakes U.S. Senate contest into a federal legal battleground, drawing intervention from the U.S. Justice Department and sparking accusations of deliberate electoral sabotage.
On Tuesday, November 3, 2026, U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan cast his vote at the Alaska Zoo in Anchorage, choosing a ballot sticker featuring a moose design before stepping outside to address a large crowd of national reporters and photographers. In a fiery impromptu press conference, the two-term Republican did not mince words about what he called an unprecedented political scheme.
“We are witnessing the biggest election cheating scandal in the history of the state of Alaska, one of the, maybe one of the biggest in the US Senate’s history,” Sullivan told reporters. At the center of his anger is Dan J. Sullivan of Petersburg, a retired teacher and longtime island resident who qualified to run for the exact same seat in a race vital to the balance of power in the U.S. Senate.
From Petition Drives to Federal Courtrooms
The path that brought two candidates sharing a name onto the Alaska ballot traces back to coordinated efforts by political operatives. The New York Times previously detailed how Democratic operatives connected to former staffers of main Democratic challenger Mary Peltola worked to recruit the Petersburg resident into the race. While the tactic, known as ballot stacking, is generally legal and both parties have used it in Alaska elections, the fallout has rattled national politics.
President Donald Trump amplified the controversy following the national reporting, labeling the Petersburg candidate a “fake” and calling for Peltola to be stripped from the ballot and the Alaska election to be overturned if she won. The U.S. Justice Department, at Trump’s direction, is now involved. During an Anchorage news conference on Friday, U.S. Attorney Michael Heyman announced that federal and state law enforcement were investigating the election for potential civil and criminal violations, including allegations that the Peltola campaign and national Democrats “orchestrated a sprawling conspiracy to recruit, prop up Dan. J Sullivan as a sham candidate, and we are taking that extremely seriously.”
“The Department is aware of allegations that the Peltola campaign and national Democrats orchestrated a sprawling conspiracy to recruit, prop up Dan. J Sullivan as a sham candidate, and we are taking that extremely seriously.” — U.S. Attorney Michael Heyman
That federal pressure collided with the judiciary over the weekend. A federal judge on Sunday dismissed a Justice Department lawsuit that sought to block state officials from declaring a winner in the U.S. Senate race if Peltola winds up on top. The Trump administration plans to appeal that decision.
Senator Sullivan Airs Unverified Hush Money Rumors
Senator Sullivan used his Tuesday morning media appearance to push beyond the initial ballot strategy, airing unverified rumors that have begun circulating across Alaska.
“I think we’re just touching the tip of the iceberg here,” the senator said. “There’s now circulating, certainly in Alaska, this idea that there’s hush money paid to make the campaign manager drop her lawsuit and (recant) her story. Who knows who paid that hush money, if it’s true.”
Despite these accusations, the Alaska Supreme Court has already ruled that Dan Sullivan of Petersburg has the legal right to be on the ballot. There is no law against convincing anyone to run for office for any reason unless bribery is involved. Republican Gerald Heikes is the fourth candidate in the race.
Voter Sentiment on the Ground in Anchorage
While national networks and federal investigators treat the dual-Sullivan ballot as an issue, everyday voters casting ballots across Anchorage expressed far less alarm.
Eighteen-year-old Ella Wheeles, voting in her first general election as a freshman at the University of Alaska Anchorage, told the Alaska Beacon that the outcry over candidate names underestimates the electorate.
“If you know what the word incumbent means, it should not be a problem,” Wheeles said. “I think it’s pretty self-explanatory. And if you are an informed voter — which you always should be — it’s not hard to understand who’s who.”
Longtime Anchorage residents echoed that sentiment, noting that Alaskans have been hearing about the two Dan Sullivans on the ballot for months. Others pointed to Alaska’s ranked-choice voting system as a structural safeguard that allows for both Sullivans to be chosen.
Meanwhile, the federal investigation continues to ripple outward. Barry Bracken, a Petersburg resident and friend who donated to the campaign of Dan J. Sullivan, recounted being questioned directly by Federal Bureau of Investigation agents at his home concerning his financial contribution. Speaking at a Monday press conference hosted by the 907 Initiative and the Alaska AFL-CIO outside the FBI’s Anchorage office, Bracken brushed off the experience with characteristic bluntness.
“I said, ‘Well, as far as I’m concerned, I contributed to the right Dan Sullivan, because I wouldn’t give a nickel to the other guy,’” Bracken told reporters.
As the ballots are scanned and legal briefs are filed for the impending appeals, Alaska’s unique political theater remains under the nation’s microscope.
