Suzanne Downing: The Petersburg Poser and the Democrat Party politics of the ‘existential threat’

By SUZANNE DOWNING

June 2, 2026 – There are going to be two Dan Sullivans on Alaska’s Senate ballot.

One earned his name. The other is trying to use it to trick voters.

One has honor. The other has dishonored himself. He’ll forever be known as the Petersburg Poser, Decoy Dan.

US Sen. Dan Sullivan has spent a lifetime building a record. He served honorably in the United States Marine Corps and Marine Reserve, retiring as a colonel. He served Alaska as attorney general and commissioner of the Department of Natural Resources. He has represented Alaska in the US Senate for more than a decade. Agree with him or disagree with him, voters know who he is. He stands before the public under his own record, his own accomplishments, his own votes, and his own reputation.

The other Dan Sullivan is from Petersburg. Until recently, he was known as a supporter of Democrat Mary Peltola, who is running against Sen. Sullivan this year. Now the Petersburg Poser running for the US Senate with the same name as Alaska’s incumbent senator and has even changed his voter registration to Republican, making the potential for voter confusion even greater.

You can call him the Scam Dan. Fake Dan. Deceitful Dan.

But what you cannot call this is …  normal or honorable.

The defenders of this stunt will say it is legal. Maybe so. But there is a difference between legality and honor. There is a difference between running against a man and trying to run as his shadow.

The more interesting questions are these: Why would political operatives like Amber Lee Strategies think this is a good idea? Why would anyone imagine that confusing voters is a legitimate campaign tactic? Why would anyone look at a candidate whose chief political asset is having the same name as someone else and think, “Yes, this is how democracy is supposed to work”?

The answer lies in what has happened to modern leftist politics.

For years, Americans have been told by the Democrats that every election is an existential battle, that democracy hangs in the balance and will be destroyed if Republicans win. Their language is always apocalyptic. Democracy is ending. Freedom is ending. America is ending. This is the last election. The next election is the last election. Every election is the last election.

Just recently Rep. Hakeem Jeffries gave the orders: Warfare, everywhere, all the time.

Extremism? He just ordered his team to break the spirits of the 77 million conservative American voters, again using language that borderlines on violence. 

Eventually people begin to believe they are fighting an existential threat. And once they believe that, anything — even assassination — becomes permissible.

If you genuinely believe democracy dies unless your side wins, then ordinary political rules start looking like luxuries and the end justifies the means. Lying is just a strategic tool; if the cause is important enough, why not bend the truth a little? Why not confuse a few voters, or do whatever it takes.

That is where this kind of politics leads: The objective becomes victory at any cost. And that is exactly what makes the Petersburg Poser Dan Sullivan so revealing. His candidacy is not really about issues or about public service. It is about Mary Peltola winning through purposeful confusion. It is about exploiting the fact that many (dare we say most) voters only casually follow politics and may recognize a familiar name on a ballot.

The party that constantly lectures Americans about protecting democracy is now associated with a candidate whose greatest apparent political advantage is that voters might mistake him for somebody else, split the vote, and allow Peltola to win.

What is perhaps most revealing is not what Decoy Dan has done, but what Alaska Democrats have not done. There has been no outcry from party leaders or statements condemning a tactic that appears designed to confuse voters. The Alaska Democrats have been crickets.

If a Republican operative had recruited a same-name candidate to muddy the waters for a Democratic incumbent, Democrats would be holding press conferences, issuing statements, and demanding investigations. Instead, Alaska’s Democratic establishment has responded with a collective shrug. Their silence speaks volumes. It suggests that when the tactic benefits their side, concerns about protecting democracy suddenly become negotiable.

That should bother everyone, regardless of party, because this is bigger than one race. If they do it this time, they’ll do it again. Every successful deception breeds the next one.

The architects of these schemes always imagine they are serving some higher purpose. They tell themselves they are the good guys. They tell themselves the threat is so great that normal standards no longer apply. They convince themselves that deception is justified because the cause is righteous.

History is filled with fascists who believed exactly that.

And so, here we are: On one side stands a man whose record is well known, whose service is documented, and whose reputation was earned over decades. His name is Dan Sullivan. Senator. Retired Marie.

On the other stands a candidate whose campaign is a dirty trick.

Alaskans have always had a healthy skepticism toward political games. They know the difference between a statesman and a stunt.

This August, they will have an opportunity to prove it.

Suzanne Downing is founder and editor of The Alaska Story and is a longtime Alaskan.

National Republican Senatorial Committee sends letter to Elections Division about the Petersburg Poser

Twisted: Decoy Dan changed his official candidate filing to ‘Republican’

Suzanne Downing: The curious case of Machiavellian Mary and Decoy Dan