Incumbent Republican Senator Dan S. Sullivan would likely be leading Peltola if it weren’t for her campaign’s unethical tactic of encouraging another Dan Sullivan to run.
The results for the Senate race in Alaska are still too close to call as the nation reels from the blue tsunami that saw Democrats take the House, Senate, and flip five governors. Democrat Senate candidate Mary Peltola leads two Dan Sullivans, one Republican and one “other,” along with Gerald L. Heikes. But her lead is slim, just 626 votes.
Incumbent Republican Senator Dan S. Sullivan would likely be leading Peltola if it weren’t for her campaign’s unethical tactic, as reported by The New York Times, of recruiting another Dan Sullivan in an attempt to confuse Alaskan voters into voting for the wrong guy and giving the Democrat and edge. That appears to have worked.
Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. hold 3,583 votes. He lives on a small island accessible only by sea plane or boat. He had no belief during the election that he would actually end up in the Senate. He rarely spoke to press. And was tossed into the mix just to cause confusion. An Alaskan court said that no state laws were broken by there being two candidates of the same name, but that hasn’t stopped the governor or the DOJ from opening an investigation.
According to The New York Times, the Peltola campaign sought to find all the other Dan Sullivans in the state to see if there was one who would throw his name onto the ballot. They found a retired schoolteacher and independent who was willing to do so, though both he and the campaign deny the allegations.
The “real” Dan Sullivan, as the incumbent came to be known, called shenanigans and the ballot reflected that concern, with the senator being listed as Dan S. Sullivan and the man known as “Decoy Dan” being listed as Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. Even so, some Alaskans who headed to the polls walked away realizing they may have voted for the wrong Dan Sullivan.
Peltola’s slim lead would be easily wiped out by the votes given to the other Dan Sullivan, but there is no clarity on how this will be sorted out, if it will at all. Commentator Tim Pool said “Democrats fraud in Alaska seems to be working, for now. With more than 23% remaining Peltola will need to overcome around 4 or 5k votes to make this an actual legit win.”
A declared win for Peltola would only increase the Democrats’ Senate victory. The party leads by 10 seats in the Senate and 90 seats in the House, with some races yet to be called. No matter what happens, the Democrats have delivered a sweep of both houses of Congress, but what happens in the Sullivan race could set the tone for election strategy going forward. Perhaps sooner rather than later, every candidate will seek to befuddle the electorate by running opposition candidates with the same name as their real foes.
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