Two Dan Sullivans, and a ballot solution the state wrote itself

Two men named Daniel Sullivan will appear on Alaska's Aug. 18 primary ballot for U.S. Senate, and the way the state chose to tell them apart leaves one of them as the only candidate in the race without a party listed.

The Alaska Supreme Court settled the first question on June 29, affirming a lower court order that the Division of Elections must include Dan J. Sullivan of Petersburg on the ballot. That reversed a June 15 determination by Division Director Carol Beecher, who had found the challenger's candidacy was not filed in good faith. But the court stopped there. It sent the second question straight back to the agency: "This matter is remanded for the Division of Elections to determine, in the first instance, how appellee Sullivan shall be listed as a candidate within the confines of existing Alaska ballot design law." A full opinion is still to come.

The division answered within hours. Its sample ballot lists the challenger as "Sullivan, Daniel J. Jr." with the space for party affiliation left blank, and the incumbent as "Sullivan, Dan S. (Registered Republican) Incumbent." Dan J. Sullivan is a registered Republican. The other 15 candidates in the race all have a party listed.

That blank is notable. State regulation calls for middle initials to distinguish candidates who share a name, but the division argued in its briefing that a one-letter difference wasn't enough to prevent voters from picking the wrong man. The challenger's attorney countered that the division has no authority to alter a candidate's stated party in the name of reducing confusion.

At a legislative hearing in June, Rep. Andrew Gray said the fix isn't really the agency's to make. "The Division of Elections has to find a neutral, nonpartisan way to list these names on the ballot so that voters can tell them apart," he said. "And then I think it goes back to the campaigns. The campaigns have to spend some energy."

Sen. Dan S. Sullivan has called the Petersburg candidacy orchestrated to confuse voters. Voter registration records show Dan J. Sullivan previously registered as Nonpartisan, Undeclared, and Alaska Independence Party before registering Republican in 2026.

The top four vote-getters on Aug. 18 advance to the Nov. 3 general election, regardless of party.