These months have seen the popularity of the Republican Party in Alaska, United States, be quite low.
They found that there were two names “Dan Sullivan” on the state's federal senator ballots—one was Dan S. Sullivan, a Republican senator seeking re-election, and the other was Dan J. Sullivan Jr., a retired teacher from a small fishing village.
Two people have the same name and surname, except for a suffix; only one middle letter is different.
On Wednesday (October 28th), the American newspaper The New York Times reported that this was orchestrated by the Democratic candidate for the state office, Mary Petroella. They carefully selected and secretly recruited a candidate with the same name as their opponent, in an attempt to dilute Republican votes.
After the matter came to light, Pertora strongly denied the accusations that Republicans were trying to divert public attention from high energy prices.
But within the past 24 hours, public opinion has rapidly fermented, quickly making headlines on major American media outlets.
Dan S. Sullivan (left) and Dan J. Sullivan – Photo material
This incident directly alarmed the White House. That night, U.S. President Donald Trump called for the cancellation of the election materials related to Perdora and “the fake Sullivan”. It was also reported that Trump had ordered the Department of Justice to conduct an investigation. American media noted that Sullivan had a good personal relationship with Trump, and both parties considered Alaska as one of the key states for gaining control of the Senate.
Alaska state has become a chaotic battleground for the US Senate races. "The Wall Street Journal" lamented, as winter nears and mid-term elections approach, high prices for diesel and home heating oil have stirred public anger toward Trump, adding to a "Monkey King" farce, with the race for seats in the Alaska State Senate becoming one of the most fiercely contested in all of America.
Ironically, while the Republicans are now claiming to be standing up for justice everywhere, they themselves have also engaged in tactics similar to "manipulating votes."
American media also noted that while both parties were blaming each other for ‘unethical actions’ and ‘tactical moves’, the two major political parties in the United States have become involved in chaos, with election-related issues such as voter registrations, mailing of ballots, and verification of election results leading to continuous problems.
The main players in this controversy are two candidates with highly similar names.
One is Dan S. Sullivan, a Republican incumbent senator at the age of 61. He has served as the Attorney General of Alaska and a Marine Corps officer. He was first elected to the federal Senate in 2014 and is seeking re-election this year.
The other is Dan J. Sullivan, from Petersburg, a small fishing village in Alaska, and a retired teacher. Unlike the former, he has no political experience, but because of his same name, he has become one of the most prominent figures in this election campaign.
It all starts in the summer of 2025.
According to The New York Times, a former staff member of the Pelotora campaign team revealed that the Democratic Party organized a secret “voting strategy” aimed at recruiting candidates who could potentially sway Republican votes in the Alaska senator elections. One of the staff members was instructed to find as many “Dan Sullivan” as possible and gather relevant information from voter records.
According to reports, staff from the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee, which is part of the Democratic National Committee, were also involved in the coordination efforts.
Reports reveal that a Democratic political advisor later approached Dan J. Sullivan and pushed him to run for election. “The retired teacher didn’t have much interest in politics at the time, but he would consider running if it would help Pertora.”
Ultimately, both Dan Sullivan made it onto the list of candidates for the Alaska Senatorial elections on November 3rd.
Alaska Senatorial Voting in the US Media
In fact, this controversy emerged several months ago. The Alaska election department disqualified Dan J. Sullivan from running for office on the grounds that he had misled voters. Dan J. Sullivan appealed against this decision.
In June of this year, the Alaska Supreme Court upheld the decision allowing two individuals to run for office at the same time. The state election department then implemented a distinction: the name of the current senator was marked with the Republican party label and the word “incumbent”, while the other candidate was not marked in the same way.
However, data still shows that Dan J. Sullivan received 2.5% of the votes in the August primaries in Alaska, ranking third, behind Pertola (49.5%) and Dan S. Sullivan (41.4%).
Early August elections: “Fake Sullivan” ranked third
"New York Times" article sparked immediate GOP counteroffensive.
House Oversight Committee Chairman and Kentucky Republican Representative James Comer stated that Democrats attempted to manipulate the election results by confusing voters, knowing they could not defeat Sullivan on policy issues. He announced that he would investigate the matter, and asked Rios, the former manager of Pelotara’s campaign team, and Democratic political advisor Jared Coats to be questioned.
Comer said that American voters have the right to know whether the Democrats are trying to manipulate the election of senators in Alaska in this way.
Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy, a Republican, also announced that he has instructed the state public safety department to investigate whether the actions violate state law, and whether criminal charges should be filed or civil proceedings should be taken. Dunleavy claimed that over 60,000 Alaska voters have voted in advance, but they may not be aware of the controversy surrounding the two Sullivans. He described the current situation as "a mess."
Of course, this farce immediately alerted Washington and the White House.
On the evening of the 28th local time, at a campaign rally in Ohio, Trump publicly demanded action against Pertora. He said, “She should be disqualified from running for office and should be sued. The fake Dan Sullivan should also be treated the same way.”
According to reports from the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) and Reuters, sources in the White House said that Trump is urging his administration to intensify investigations into the election situation in Alaska, including doubling the efforts to pursue criminal charges. To date, the Department of Justice has issued at least 36 subpoenas.
The Democratic Party refuses to accept the above accusations, instead accusing the other party of trying to divert attention.
The Peltona campaign team stated that their organization has “no connection to either of the Sullivan campaigns,” and said that Peltona’s focus is on reducing living costs and addressing issues within the Washington political system. Peltona herself described the report in The New York Times as “absurd.” In a recent campaign event, she stated that what should be discussed in this election is the housing affordability and living costs for people in Alaska.
Mary Petrova and Sullivan in the media
However, The New York Times has clearly stated that its investigation did not find any evidence of illegal activities. As of now, the Department of Justice proceedings have not filed any criminal charges against the relevant individuals.
Republican election lawyer Benjamin Ginsberg said that recruiting other candidates to run and diverting opponent's votes is a practice that has existed in American politics for a long time. He said, “It’s simply an act of art, but I don’t consider it to be a federal crime.”
"Attempting to persuade others to run for public office does not violate the law," said Justin Levi, NBC News correspondent and election law expert. "If Perotla's campaign staff did not pay for 'fake Shalvi' in order to let him run, they would likely not be held liable."
