Two Dan Sullivans Reach Alaska Senate Ballot as 2.5% Challenger Tests Tight Race

Q: Will Alaska's unique ranked-choice voting system completely neutralize the chaos of having two identical names on the ballot?

No. Alaska’s ranked-choice voting can reduce the damage from two nearly identical names on the ballot, but it cannot erase it. The main safeguard is that voters in November can rank more than one candidate. A voter who wants the incumbent Dan Sullivan can rank him first and Dan J. Sullivan lower, or rank both Sullivans somewhere on the ballot, which lowers the risk that a mistaken first choice is permanently wasted. That is a real advantage compared with a standard one-choice election, where a confused vote is simply gone. But ranked-choice voting only helps if voters use it that way. Some people still rank only one candidate. If a voter accidentally picks the wrong Sullivan and leaves the rest blank, ranked-choice voting offers no fix. Even when voters rank multiple candidates, confusion can still shape elimination order, margins, and campaign dynamics in a close race. Election officials have also tried to limit confusion through ballot design, not just ranked-choice voting. The incumbent is identified as the incumbent, while the challenger is listed with his fuller name and without the same party designation on the ballot presentation used by the state. Courts have said those kinds of design changes are a less drastic remedy than removing a qualified candidate. The primary results suggest the name issue is not overwhelming but not meaningless either: the second Sullivan drew about 2.5% of the vote. In a competitive statewide race, that is enough to keep the concern alive.

3 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Aug 26

Alaska election officials confirmed that incumbent Republican Dan S. Sullivan and Republican challenger Dan J. Sullivan will both appear on the November Senate ballot after the challenger survived a court fight.
With 85% of primary ballots counted, Dan J. Sullivan had about 2.5% of the vote, trailing Mary Peltola at more than 48% and the incumbent at almost 43% in the top-four primary.
Dan S. Sullivan has called the other Sullivan a "sham" candidate meant to confuse voters and split Republican support, though ranked-choice voting could blunt that risk if voters rank both men.
The naming clash lands in a race polls show is neck-and-neck between Sullivan and Peltola, one of several Republican-held Senate seats Democrats are targeting in the 2026 midterms.