Other Dan Sullivan can stay on ballot, judge rules

Campaign Other Dan Sullivan can stay on ballot, judge rules Comments: by Sarah Davis - 06/27/26 4:23 PM ET Comments: Link copied by Sarah Davis - 06/27/26 4:23 PM ET Comments: Link copied

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An Alaska judge ruled on Friday that a candidate with the same name and party affiliation as Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) can stay on the ballot to challenge the incumbent senator for his seat, overturning a previous ban on his candidacy.

Superior Court Judge Thomas Matthews ruled that Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. could remain on the ballot for the state’s primary on Aug. 18, after the candidate appealed an election official’s decision earlier this month that he was ineligible to run.

Matthews found that the decision to remove Sullivan Jr. from the ballot was not based on stated election rules or constitutional requirements, but rather on a “good faith” requirement. Division of Elections Director Carol Beecher disqualified Sullivan Jr. citing “credible allegations” that he was running to “confuse or mislead” voters in this race.

Beecher cited Sullivan Jr.’s recent switch to the Republican Party and his ties to a political consultant for the leading Democratic candidate in the race, Mary Pelota.

In his Monday appeal to the Superior Court, Sullivan Jr. noted that Alaskan law does not regulate the “private motivations that draw individuals to declare or campaign for office.”

“Despite the Division’s assertion that Mr. Sullivan may be excluded from the ballot because he lacks ‘good-faith’, there is no statute which provides such a criterion,” Matthews wrote in his Friday ruling. “The concept of ‘good-faith’, or pure motive, or bona fide intent is simply absent.”

Matthews’ ruling can be appealed to the Alaska Supreme Court. The Hill has reached out to the Alaska Department of Law about whether they plan to appeal this decision.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), the GOP campaign arm for the Senate, has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Committee (FEC), alleging that Sullivan Jr.’s candidacy broke federal election law.

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