‘Imposter’ Candidate Can Appear On Ballot Ahead Of Alaska Senate Primary, State Supreme Court Rules
“Decoy Dan” can appear on Alaska’s primary ballot, according to an 11th-hour ruling that saved the campaign of a Senate candidate accused of being a political con man.
On Monday, the Alaska Supreme Court upheld a lower court’s ruling that Daniel J. Sullivan should not have been decertified by the state’s top election official, who found the “Republican” is running merely to “confuse or mislead and to thereby compromise the ballot’s fairness or neutrality.”
Alaska Supreme Court order:
“The 6/26/2026 order of the superior court directing the Division to include
appellee Sullivan as a candidate for United States Senator on the primary election ballot is AFFIRMED.”“This matter is remanded for the Division of Elections to determine,… https://t.co/NhyLp2fvZn pic.twitter.com/xHTJmhLspK
— Politics & Poll Tracker 📡 (@PollTracker2024) June 29, 2026
Sullivan, who admitted to working with a political strategist who is “a known longtime supporter of Democratic candidates,” is challenging Alaska’s incumbent senator — who happens to also be named Dan Sullivan. He also unsuccessfully sought to use the middle initial “S.” on the ballot, which would have matched Sen. Sullivan’s middle initial. He claimed that was a mistake.
“That you chose the occasion of your declaration of candidacy for U.S. Senate to seek ballot access under a name you have not used in your interactions with the [Election] Division suggests — and in combination with the additional facts I outline in this letter leads me to conclude — that you are seeking to confuse yourself with another candidate in the race, the incumbent Senator Dan Sullivan, rather than distinguish yourself from him,” Alaska Director of Elections Carol Beecher wrote last week in a stinging rebuke.
“Decoy Dan,” as his critics call him, had never been affiliated with Alaska’s GOP. That changed just two days before he filed his declaration of candidacy, the Election Division’s records show. And his campaign website, curiously, looks a lot like the senator’s, Beecher wrote. Beecher noted Dan J. Sullivan’s ties to Amber Lee, “an Alaska Democratic consultant who has previously supported [former Rep. Mary Peltola, D-Alaska],” Fox News reported. (Read more from “‘Imposter’ Candidate Can Appear On Ballot Ahead Of Alaska Senate Primary, State Supreme Court Rules” HERE)
