JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A top Alaska elections official on Monday ruled that a U.S. Senate candidate with the same name and party affiliation as Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan is ineligible to appear on the state’s August primary ballot.
Division of Elections Director Carol Beecher, in a letter sent to the challenger Sullivan, said she concluded that his declaration of candidacy “was not filed in order to declare an actual good-faith candidacy for
the office of United States Senator, but was instead filed with a purpose to confuse or mislead and to thereby compromise the ballot’s fairness or neutrality.”
The challenger can appeal the ruling, she said, while noting ballots are due to be printed June 28.
A text message seeking comment from Sullivan, the challenger, was not immediately returned. He previously said he anticipated making a decision on whether to pursue an appeal by early this week.
In a social media post Sunday, he said he “met the qualification and I entered this race because I am unhappy with the 12 year record of the current Senator and I feel we need a change. It’s that simple.”
It’s been a whirlwind chain of events in one of the nation’s most prominent U.S. Senate races, one both parties consider crucial to controlling the chamber.
The kerfuffle was set off by the challenger Sullivan filing days before the June 1 candidate deadline. Sen. Sullivan and Republicans called him a “sham” candidate and alleged he was working with Democrats to boost Democratic former U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola’s chances in the race. Both the challenger Sullivan and Peltola’s campaign have denied the allegation.
Republican Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom a week ago announced an investigation into the challenger Sullivan’s run, citing “credible allegations” that he declared his candidacy “in coordination with another candidate and campaign” with an intent to confuse and “manipulate” voters.
Sullivan, a retired teacher from the small, southeast Alaska fishing community of Petersburg, has said he’s done nothing wrong and insisted that Dahlstrom lacks a legal basis to exclude him from the ballot. He said in a recent interview he has been weighing a run for years and called sharing a name with Sullivan a “matter of fate.”
“The Lieutenant Governor’s job is to oversee elections fairly and impartially,” he said in a statement last week. “Instead, her actions create the impression that the state government is being used to protect an incumbent senator from facing competition at the ballot box.”
Sen. Sullivan's campaign manager, Billy Mackey, lauded the decision by the lieutenant governor, who oversees elections in Alaska, for upholding the right to “a free and fair election.”
Sen. Sullivan, who is seeking a third term, and Peltola are the highest-profile candidates in the crowded race and the only ones so far to report raising any money.
Democrats have targeted the seat in their push to regain the majority in the chamber.
On Friday, protesters gathered outside the Division of Elections office in Juneau, opposing efforts to remove the challenger Sullivan from the ballot. Among them was Ben Muse of Juneau. He said he felt the issue could have been addressed using middle initials to distinguish between the candidates but had been “blown way out of proportion.”
“This has nothing to do with whether you support this guy as a candidate,” he said. “It’s supporting his right to be on the ballot.”
