The stage is set for an unusual election drama in Alaska, just days before the US mid-term elections.
Republican Senator Dan S. Sullivan is fighting to retain his seat in the Senate. However, the ballot paper also features another candidate with an almost identical name: Dan J. Sullivan, a retired teacher from the small fishing town of Petersburg.
The New York Times has uncovered information suggesting that the similarity in names is by no means a coincidence.
According to the newspaper, a Democratic strategist is said to have scoured the electoral register and travelled around Alaska to find someone named Dan Sullivan who could stand against the incumbent Republican senator.
The aim is said to have been to draw votes away from the Republican and thereby help the Democrat Mary Peltola. CNN reports that this is a gift to Trump.
Trump: ‘The Democrats cheated’
President Donald Trump reacted strongly when the news broke on Wednesday. On Truth Social, he accused the Democrats of electoral fraud:
Trump also wrote that Mary Peltola should not be allowed to stand for election following what he believes to be electoral fraud:
Secret project to find a namesake
According to The New York Times, the operation is said to have been led by Jerid Kurtz, a Democratic strategist from Ohio. The project is said to have been named the ‘ballot composition project’. Kurtz is said to have examined the electoral registers in Alaska and visited remote communities in search of a suitable candidate.
A company in which he is a co-owner, Wingspan Strategies, later received $87,000 (around 900,000 kr) from a political action committee supporting Mary Peltola, according to records held by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
According to the newspaper’s information, the operation was so sensitive that staff on Peltola’s election campaign became concerned when Kurtz posted photos from Anchorage Airport on Instagram.
– I am hearing that our friend in the state is being noticed,” Anton McParland, Peltola’s former chief of staff, wrote in a text message
Andrew Piatt, campaign manager for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), is reported to have replied:
– We will check in.
Former campaign manager: Voters must be told
Elisa Rios, who previously led Peltola’s election campaign, also spoke to The New York Times.
– Alaskan voters need to know. There was a lot of speculation, and voters should get the full picture when making their decisions.
Rios later attempted to retract her comments.
– As discussed on our call earlier today, I am confirming that I have retracted all statements made regarding the 2026 Alaska Senate Race in connection with any article you may or may not be writing,” Rios wrote. “I am not willing to be a source for any story in any capacity.
The New York Times rejected the request to retract statements that had already been made during an interview for publication.
The other Sullivan denies the allegations
Dan J. Sullivan, the retired teacher who is now standing as an independent candidate, has denied that he is collaborating with the Democrats to undermine the Republican senator. He has also reacted strongly to Trump’s characterisations of him. The President has described him as a ‘shameful fraud’.
‘It’s frightening, frustrating and unfair,’ Sullivan told The Times in an interview last month. ‘It’s completely incomprehensible that he would get involved in this. To be perfectly honest, I’m speechless.
The independent candidate received 4,098 votes in the primary election in August. By comparison, Mary Peltola’s lead over the Republican senator was 13,481 votes in the same election.
Trump has taken legal action
After a previous attempt to have the independent candidate removed from the ballot paper failed, Trump has asked the Department of Justice to bring a pre-emptive legal action. The aim is to prevent the election result from being certified should the incumbent Republican senator lose, citing potential confusion over the two candidates’ names.
Legal experts interviewed by The Times expect the case to be dismissed by Federal Judge Sharon L. Gleason, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama.
On the ballot paper, the two candidates will be listed under different designations:
Sullivan, Daniel J Jr – independent candidate.
Sullivan, Dan S – registered Republican and incumbent senator.
Democrats deny involvement
Both Mary Peltola’s election campaign and the Democrats’ Senate committee, the DSCC, deny that they have been involved in attempts to recruit candidates to split the vote in Alaska. A spokesperson for Mary Peltola’s election campaign stated:
– The ‘Alaskans for Mary’ campaign has no connection to any of the Sullivan campaigns.
It remains unclear how much Peltola herself knew about the operation, and whether there was any coordinated collaboration between the strategists and the campaign.
Recruiting a candidate with the same name as a political opponent appears, in itself, to be legal, writes The Times. The question is whether the revelations about the secret recruitment will have political or legal consequences.
CBS reports that Alaska’s Governor Mike Dunleavy has ordered an investigation into the matter. He posted this himself on X:
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