Alaska Senate Race Faces Criminal Probe and Lawsuit Over Name Clash

Federal investigators and the Justice Department have moved against the U.S. Senate race in Alaska following reports that a second candidate named Dan Sullivan was recruited to confuse voters. The incumbent Republican, Dan Scott Sullivan, faces a challenger in Democrat Mary Peltola, but a retired schoolteacher named Dan J. Sullivan also appears on the ballot.

A New York Times investigation published this week detailed a coordinated effort by associates of Peltola’s campaign to find a person with the same name as the senator. A spokesperson for Peltola previously stated the campaign had no involvement with either Sullivan, but she has since labeled the allegations a diversion without fully addressing the specifics.

The ballot dispute began in June when Alaska’s Republican lieutenant-governor attempted to disqualify Dan J. Sullivan under a state rule against confusing names. A state judge reversed that decision, and the Alaska Supreme Court upheld the ruling. The high court found no legal mechanism to remove the candidate once he qualified, regardless of the candidacy’s origin.

The stakes are high for control of the Senate. Republicans hold a 53-47 majority, and Democrats need four additional seats to take over the chamber. Alaska has a small electorate, and Sullivan won his previous election by roughly two percentage points, or just over 6,000 votes.

In the August primary, the second candidate, sometimes called Decoy Dan, received 4,107 votes. That figure represents about 2 percent of the total, despite reports that he spent nothing on staff or media. The presence of this candidate has intensified scrutiny of the race’s integrity.

Attorney General Todd Blanche said Wednesday that such a scheme should be illegal. President Donald Trump suggested prosecutions should follow, though he did not specify the grounds or the individuals targeted. Governor Mike Dunleavy directed the state’s Department of Public Safety to investigate whether criminal or civil offenses occurred.

Dunleavy stated that deliberately tricking voters strikes at the integrity of elections. Senator Lisa Murkowski has asked Peltola to explain what she knew about the situation. The Justice Department filed a federal lawsuit days before the Times report, seeking to stop Alaska from certifying a Peltola win if Dan J. Sullivan remains on the ballot.

Legal experts question the lawsuit’s chances. Derek Muller, a law professor at the University of Notre Dame, told the Associated Press that the statute does not allow the Justice Department to enjoin certification. Rick Hasen, a UCLA law professor, called the report a bombshell and noted that perjury prosecutions were possible if anyone lied about their involvement.

Hasen argued that the report did not change the outlook for the lawsuit and saw no way for the government to criminalize the namesake’s campaign. He warned that doing so could make it a crime whenever a major party supports a minor party candidate.

Democrats have defended the move as standard political strategy, pointing to Republican efforts elsewhere to place diversionary candidates on ballots. They also cited a 2024 scheme involving an incarcerated candidate intended to draw votes from a preferred House candidate. That candidate is running again this year. Alaskans use ranked-choice voting, and ballots can no longer be changed. The second candidate appears as Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. with no party label, while the incumbent is listed as Dan S. Sullivan, a Registered Republican incumbent.