Alaska Republicans Warn 2.3% Namesake Vote Could Hurt Dan Sullivan in November
Updated
Updated · Fox News · Aug 23
Alaska Republicans Warn 2.3% Namesake Vote Could Hurt Dan Sullivan in November
3 articles · Updated · Fox News · Aug 23
Summary
A 2.3% primary showing by independent Dan J. Sullivan Jr. has Alaska Republicans racing to warn voters not to confuse him with Sen. Dan Sullivan before the November Senate election.
Tuesday’s results showed Mary Peltola leading the field by 5.4 points, while Republicans said the namesake candidate already peeled off enough support to validate concerns even if it did not change the primary frontrunner.
Ranked-choice voting adds another risk: state Sen. James Kaufman said some voters may not rank both Sullivans or may skip rankings altogether because they oppose the system.
Republicans also point to a broader effort to weaken the incumbent, with groups spending about $1.2 million against Sullivan and $410,000 backing Gerald Heikes, another conservative challenger.
Alaska has seen ballot-name confusion before, including a 2022 race involving Buzz Kelly and Kelly Tshibaka, leaving Republicans to make voter education a central fall campaign task.