Trump takes aim at Alaska's U.S. Senate Primary Election

President Donald Trump has inserted himself into Alaska's confusing U.S. Senate primary, telling voters Friday to mark the ballot line reading "SULLIVAN, DAN S." on Tuesday and skip a second, similarly named candidate. Because Alaska uses a top-four primary — the four candidates with the most votes advance to the Nov. 3 general election regardless of party — both Sullivans can remain on the ballot past this week, and the endorsement is Trump's attempt to steer Republican voters to the incumbent he backs.

Trump posted the endorsement on Truth Social with a graphic crossing out "Sullivan, Daniel J. Jr." with a red X and a Democratic donkey, and marking the incumbent's line. In the post, he attributed the second candidacy to Democrats: "Democrats are trying to 'trick' Alaskans, and treat Alaskan Voters with contempt," he wrote. No Division of Elections record supports that characterization. In June correspondence responding to a state investigation, the challenger said he is running as a Republican and has had no contact with the campaign of former Rep. Mary Peltola, a Democrat.

Both men are, in fact, registered Republicans. Sen. Dan S. Sullivan, the two-term incumbent, lists an Anchorage address and appears on the ballot as "(Registered Republican) Incumbent." The challenger, Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., lists a Petersburg address and also chose to be listed as a Republican — but the Division of Elections left the party-affiliation space under his name blank on the ballot, one of the ways it moved to distinguish the two. He was originally a member of the Alaska Independence Party and registered as a Republican after that party dissolved. His official candidate statement describes him as a 69-year-old retired elementary school teacher who has lived in Petersburg for 46 years and worked for the U.S. Forest Service. The two Sullivans are not related.

The challenger reached the ballot only after a legal fight. The Division of Elections director, Carol Beecher, ruled in June that his filing was not made in good faith; a Superior Court vacated that ruling, and the Alaska Supreme Court ordered later in June that he must appear on the ballot.

Trump's intervention lands with a particular weight in Alaska, a state he carried but where his national standing has since fallen. He won Alaska last November with about 54.5% of the vote, a 13-point margin over Kamala Harris, and it has backed the Republican presidential candidate 15 elections running. Nationally, though, his approval has dropped well underwater in his second term — recent polling averages put it near 38% approval to 59% disapproval. That decline is driven largely by independents and Democrats; among Republicans, the voters who decide a Republican primary, his support remains high, which is what gives an endorsement like this its force in a race like Alaska's.

The deadline to request a mailed absentee ballot has passed. Electronic absentee applications must be received by 5 p.m. Monday, and voted ballots must be postmarked or received by Tuesday.