Alaska's supreme court handed a challenger a courtroom victory Monday, ruling that a man named Dan Sullivan can compete in the Republican primary against sitting U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan, also a Republican. The decision reversed state election officials who had kicked the challenger off the August ballot, citing bad faith and potential voter confusion.
State Judge Thomas Matthews had already found that the division of elections "abused its discretion" in removing the challenger. The supreme court affirmed that judgment in a brief order issued hours after oral arguments, though it punted one key detail back to election officials: exactly how the challenger's name should appear on the ballot under existing state law.
The court said it would issue a full written opinion later.
The case centers on a 70-year-old former teacher who registered to vote under the nickname "Dan" after previously going by "Daniel J Sullivan, Jr." He joined the Republican Party and filed for Senate, setting off a party scramble to block him. Republicans argued he was running as a deliberate sabotage tactic against their incumbent, leveraging the identical name to siphon votes or trigger ballot confusion.
State election director Carol Beecher had rejected his candidacy, finding the evidence overwhelming that Sullivan "chose this new nickname and party affiliation because that name and party affiliation happen to be the name and party affiliation of another candidate in the race." Her decision cited other red flags: his campaign website bore striking similarities to the senator's site, and he had worked with a Democratic political consultant aligned with Senator Sullivan's main Democratic challenger, Mary Peltola.
Sullivan denies any scheme. He claims he has long used "Dan" as his nickname and insists his campaign is independent. Peltola's camp has also denied any coordination with the challenger.
The ruling strips away one weapon from Republicans trying to protect their Senate seat in a race the party views as competitive. Alaska has emerged as a genuine battleground after the 2022 midterms flipped the seat blue with Peltola's victory, and Senator Sullivan faces a determined effort to reclaim it. The primary contest now moves forward with both Sullivans on the ballot, setting up a scenario that state officials had tried to prevent but courts have now allowed.
Author James Rodriguez: "This decision plays right into the hands of Democrats, whether by design or accident. Republicans bet they could kill the story at the ballot stage and lost."
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