Judge Blocks Retired Teacher Dan Sullivan From Ballot

An Alaska official ruled Monday that retired teacher Dan J. Sullivan is not eligible for the ballot to run against incumbent Republican Sen. Dan S. Sullivan, ending a dispute over whether Sullivan’s candidacy was coordinated to sow voter confusion. GOP leaders

For retired teacher Dan J. Sullivan, the fight wasn’t just about whether he could win a Senate seat. It was about whether Alaskan voters would even see his name on their ballots.

On Monday. an Alaska official ruled that Sullivan is not eligible to appear on the ballot next to incumbent Republican Sen. Dan S. Sullivan. The decision ended a controversy that Republican officials had warned could be part of a scheme to “trick voters” by exploiting the shared name and party label.

In a statement. Republican National Committee Chair Joe Gruters said Alaskans “can rest easy” that their leaders “will never tolerate blatant attempts to mislead voters and rig elections like Democrats’ Decoy Dan Scam.” He called the ruling “the right decision” and said it would protect Alaskans from “an unprecedented attack on our democracy.”.

The dispute began after Sullivan filed his candidacy for the Senate three days before the June deadline. In a June 8 letter. Nancy Dahlstrom. Alaska’s Republican lieutenant governor. told Sullivan there were “credible accusations” that he submitted his candidacy in coordination with Mary Peltola. a top Democratic contender in the Senate race. “to confuse and manipulate voters by capitalizing” on the fact that he shares the same name and party affiliation as the incumbent.

Dahlstrom wrote that if the allegations were true, they would amount to “not only deception of voters but diminish the rights of another candidate solely for the purpose of diverting valid votes and sowing confusion among voters.”

Sullivan did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but he told The New York Times on Thursday that Dahlstrom was trying to “protect an incumbent senator from facing competition at the ballot box.”

“That’s not how elections should work,” Sullivan said. “I am a qualified candidate who followed the rules and filed to run for office under my legal name.” He added that Alaskans should ask “whether this process is being driven by politics rather than by a fair application of the law.”

A spokesperson for Peltola’s campaign denied involvement. In a statement to HuffPost, the spokesperson said her campaign “has no involvement with either Sullivan campaign.”

The RNC’s language went further. It claimed Dan J. Sullivan is a secret Democrat and argued that “the connections between Decoy Dan and Democrats are indisputable.” GOP leaders also accused Sullivan’s son of being a Democrat and said the woman running Sullivan’s campaign is a Peltola supporter.

Alaska’s Aug. 18 primary is a ranked-choice nonpartisan contest. Under that system, the top four candidates advance to the general election in November, regardless of party.

Before the ruling. Sullivan’s candidacy had already attracted attention because he is a retired teacher running under the name Dan J. Sullivan. His campaign website said he was running for U.S. Senate “because he’s sick and tired of how many of our ‘leaders’ are looking out for themselves rather than all of us.” On the site. Sullivan said: “We deserve a Senator who answers the phone. listens to the people. and puts Alaska first every single day.” He added: “That’s the commitment I’m making to the people of this state. and together. we’re going to elect a Sullivan that actually stands up for Alaska.”.

Now. with the Monday ruling barring him from appearing on the ballot. the immediate question that drove the dispute—whether this was a legitimate candidacy filed under his legal name or something aimed at confusing voters—has been decided administratively. But the competing claims that fueled the controversy are still left hanging for the election season Alaskans are heading into.

Alaska elections Dan J. Sullivan Dan S. Sullivan ranked-choice Nancy Dahlstrom Joe Gruters Mary Peltola RNC ballot eligibility