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Four candidates advanced out of Alaska’s nonpartisan jungle primary on Tuesday evening in one of the races that could decide the balance of power in the U.S. Senate come November.
Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska and former Rep. Mary Peltola, D-Alaska, will advance alongside two other candidates in the state’s four-candidate general election.
The outcome, which pits an incumbent Republican against the only Democrat to win statewide office in Alaska in 50 years, is in line with what many had expected, but it also highlights the unique nature of Alaska’s primary as well as attempts to use its process to confuse voters.
FOUR MONTHS TO MIDTERMS: 12 RACES THAT WILL DETERMINE THE SENATE MAJORITY
Sen. Dan Sullivan addresses the crowd during a campaign rally at a PenAir airplane hangar on Nov. 3, 2014, in Anchorage, Alaska. (David Ryder/Getty Images)
Alaska uses a top-four nonpartisan primary followed by ranked choice voting in the general election, a system also sometimes referred to as an instant runoff election.
Under this system, voters rank their preferred candidates. If their top choice is eliminated, their support passes on to their next-ranked option. While supporters of the process argue it expands the power of voters and greatly increases the influence of candidates that may not otherwise be a top choice, its critics — like Sullivan — believe it also introduces confusion.
“Like many others who did not support ranked choice voting in 2020, I still believe that this new election system has created unnecessary confusion among voters,” Sullivan told local Alaskan media in 2024.
Fears of that confusion rose earlier this year when news broke that Alaska’s primary would feature two candidates with the exact same first and last names.
Dan J. Sullivan, a logger, appeared among the 16 candidates on the ballot on Tuesday evening, running against Sen. Dan Sullivan.
Dan J. Sullivan’s campaign announcement did not list a party affiliation. His website does not state his position on any political issues. Instead, it leaned into the name overlap.
JUDGE RULES REPUBLICAN WITH SAME NAME AS SEN DAN SULLIVAN CAN STAY ON ALASKA PRIMARY BALLOT
Newly-introduced Senate candidate Dan Sullivan, left, pictured alongside Sen. Dan Sullivan, D-Alaska, right. (Sullivan for U.S. Senate; Brandon Bell-Pool/Getty Images)
“Dan Sullivan challenges Dan Sullivan for U.S. Senate Seat, urges Alaskans to defeat incumbent, elect a Sullivan who stands up for Alaska,” it read.
According to his biography, Dan J. Sullivan spent his early career working blue-collar jobs like logging, construction, bartending and forestry but decided to enter his bid for Senate after growing frustrated with government mismanagement.
A Digital review of the campaign earlier this year uncovered that Amber Lee, a progressive consultant, had helped author some of Dan J. Sullivan’s campaign materials. Lee previously supported Peltola, the former congresswoman.
The campaign has drawn criticism from Republicans who believe it’s an effort to put two “Dan Sullivans” on the ballot in November and, through ranked choice voting, draw away votes from the senator.
Sen. Sullivan, for his part, called it an effort to “steal an election.”
“The Democratic Party is talking about ‘we care about fair elections.’ It’s bulls—,” Sullivan said. “The Democrats in D.C., the Peltola campaign, are complicit in trying to trick Alaskans.”
Peltola, at the time when she was elected in 2022, was the only Democrat to win a statewide election in Alaska since 1972. She lost re-election in 2024 in a 51.2% to 48.8% race against Rep. Nicholas Begich, a businessman.
Despite losing control of Alaska’s at-large district, Democrats nationally view her narrow loss as evidence that Peltola is the party’s best chance at flipping Sullivan’s seat.
That’s the view of Democrats like former Vice President Kamala Harris.
“If there’s anyone who can flip Alaska and secure the Senate majority for Democrats — it’s Mary,” Harris wrote in a fundraising email earlier this year.
SAME-NAME CANDIDATE DISQUALIFIED FROM KEY SENATE RACE OVER ALLEGED DEM SCHEME TO CONFUSE VOTERS
Rep. Mary Peltola speaks during the Capitol Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 3, 2024. (Nathan Posner/Anadolu)
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Having cleared the primary, the four candidates will face off again on Nov. 3.
