By SUZANNE DOWNING
June 15, 2026 – Well, now we know. The breadcrumbs are now all laid out on the table.
For weeks, Democrats and their allies insisted that Petersburg’s Daniel James Sullivan Jr. was simply another candidate exercising his constitutional rights. Republicans were accused of overreacting. Questions about his motives were dismissed as partisan whining. They held signs outside the Division of Elections: “Keep Petersburg Dan on the Ballot.”
Then the Alaska Division of Elections did something extraordinary. Last week, the Division made a preliminary ruling. On Monday, Alaska Division of Elections Director Carol Beecher confirmed in a final letter of determination that says, in so many words, that the Petersburg Dan is a fake, phony, and was clearly trying to pull a fast one on voters.
Her ruling is remarkable not only because she removed Daniel J. Sullivan from the ballot, but because of the language she used in doing so. Beecher concluded that his declaration of candidacy was not filed in good faith as a genuine effort to become Alaska’s next US senator. Instead, she found that the purpose was to “confuse or mislead” voters and compromise the fairness of the ballot.
When you read through the determination, the pattern becomes difficult to dismiss as coincidence.
First, Beecher reveals for the first time that Sullivan attempted to access the ballot under the name “Dan S. Sullivan,” despite the fact that Division records showed he had never previously registered or interacted with election officials under that name. He was registered as Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. That’s his name.
He was attempting to use the incumbent senator’s middle initial. You could hardly invent a more telling detail.
Then, there was the sudden conversion to Republicanism. According to the Division’s findings, Sullivan had never previously been affiliated with the Republican Party. Yet two days before filing for US Senate, he switched his registration and became a Republican, the same party as the incumbent senator whose name he was attempting to share on the ballot.
Again, perhaps one coincidence can be explained away. But eventually coincidences begin stacking up. Fool me once …
The Division also examined Sullivan’s campaign website and found that it used a format, color scheme, and overall theme similar to Senator Sullivan’s campaign website. Beecher stopped short of making any intellectual-property judgment, but concluded that the similarities appeared deliberate and supported the finding that the campaign was designed to create confusion.
Then there is the matter of who was helping him. Beecher specifically referenced the involvement of a longtime Democratic political consultant connected to Democratic candidates, including Mary Peltola. Standing alone, that fact might not mean much. But taken together with the name change, the party switch, and the copycat campaign branding, it became part of a larger picture that the Division found impossible to ignore.
Outside the Division’s ruling are even more uncomfortable facts for Democrats. Decoy Dan Sullivan’s son has worked as a Democratic political operative. Decoy Dan Sullivan voted in the Democratic primary in 2024. He donated to Democratic candidates, including Mary Peltola.
Amber Lee, one of Peltola’s longtime political allies and team member of Lottsfeldt Strategies, acknowledged working with the campaign. Her fingerprints were all over the Petersburg Dan’s campaign announcement.
Yet Alaskans were expected to believe that this lifelong non-Republican had suddenly decided to become a Republican and challenge Senator Sullivan under the same exact name.
The Division of Elections didn’t buy it.
Now comes the interesting part: The ruling is final at the Division level. Sullivan has the right to appeal, but the calendar is unforgiving. Candidate withdrawals close June 27, and ballots are scheduled to be printed June 28.
Somebody will have to decide whether it is worth financing a lawsuit.
Perhaps Sullivan will do it himself. Likely he doesn’t have the money to do so. More likely, if a challenge comes, it will be backed by one of the activist legal organizations that frequently involve themselves in election disputes. The ACLU has already taken an interest in the matter.
Because there is no Alaska precedent for a case quite like this, any challenge would likely move quickly through the Superior Court at lightning speed and land before the Alaska Supreme Court.
That is where things could become very uncomfortable for a lot of people.
Court cases mean discovery and discovery means emails, text messages, phone records, sworn depositions, communications between consultants, campaigns, donors, and political operatives.
In short, discovery shines a very bright light into places that many political professionals would prefer remain dark. That may explain why Democratic Party leaders have been so quiet all along.
If this case moves forward, the question will no longer be whether Decoy Daniel Sullivan belongs on the ballot, but all of the people who helped construct this operation, who financed it, and who coordinated it.
But wait, there’s more. There is the federal complaints filed with the Federal Election Commission, which continue to hang over the matter. Those cases are moving on a separate track and could ultimately raise their own questions in federal court.
For now, however, one thing is beyond dispute: Alaska election officials have concluded that Decoy Dan’s candidacy was not a legitimate campaign for the United States Senate but an effort to obfuscate.
If the people behind this operation want to keep fighting, they should go right ahead, because Alaskans deserve to see the whole story.
Suzanne Downing is founder and editor of The Alaska Story and is a longtime Alaskan.
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13 thoughts on “Democrats get caught trying to cheat Alaska Senate race with a Dan Sullivan double”
Guess the courts will decide!
I doubt it. Courts can smell bad faith a mile away. Nothing about this Petersburg wacko even hints of honesty. Just another drunk old man trying to sell his soul to the Democrats for a lousy buck-fifty. I doubt the Democrat Party or Mary Peltola even offered to pick up the bar tab for this old stooge. The guy squandered away any last bit of respect he has, and now his family has to live with his recklessness.
Hallelujah and Amen Amen!! And, Joe, that the Division of Elections actually DID something in making this decision, must mean that the evidence supporting the article is unambiguous and beyond refute.
If Sullivan’s campaign is smart they will cut an ad clearly marking the trail of crumbs with this deception, then hammer Peltola with it. Few people like cheats. And I’m not even voting for Sullivan.
I wonder if he could impersonate me for a spell? He could go to court and petition for a name change. I can take a year off from my job, which is writing a story or two every week. Not much to it, really. Just be mean and grumpy. Hate people you disagree with. Drink lots. Fart lots. Look old, like me, (he’s got that one down solid) and beg for donations from an audience of about 40 or 50 hard core Democrats. I just love an imposter who can lie with a straight face.
Derm The Mutt
Still Snorting and Farting a lot from Alaska.
You should know, Dimwit. You’ve been writing one-sided, extreme partisan bullshit*t for 50 years. Everything about you wreaks of hate and lies.
This was an interesting effort by Dems, but reminded me, during the brief walk I just finished, that there was ‘another’ Donald E. Young in Alaska stretching back to before the Congressman came up from Californica in, I believe it was 1959 (someone correct me if I’m wrong on the year). The other Donald E. Young worked for the phone company in Ketchikan and Fairbanks. He ‘moved back’ to Fairbanks in the early 70s when the TAPS construction cranked up. A LOT of work and big demand for phone service at the time.
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I lost track of him and his two kids by the early 80s, but his wife Pat who was close with mom. Pat passed in late 1991, I think. I know Don moved back to Ketch, where he passed around 2000 or so. I believe he was older than the congressman. Still, he was probably more conservative. Hmmm, visiting mom next week, so I’ll see what she might still remember.
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My Don suffered no pretensions about running against the other Don; he never would have pulled a 🐂💩stunt like this.
If this 80% service-disabled Army veteran votes for Dan Sullivan in the upcoming election, it will be the one from Petersburg. The other one from Ohio has not done all he claims to have done for veterans. I asked for his help accessing some VA benefits I earned and have been unable to use. “Ohio Dan” pretty much told me to leave him alone. He is too busy sucking up to Donald Trump!
I say we should keep the other Dan Sullivan on the ballot; voting for him would be my choice.
No wonder Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. didn’t even try to defend himself, he tried to file under Dan S. Sullivan. He should definitely take this to court and fight the Federal Election Commission, make what would have been a little footnote in history just a little bigger.
But. Never under estimate your enemy.
decoy Dan Sullivan likely doesn’t have any money for a lawsuit. But. Democrats do have Democrat multi millionaires and billionaires funding sources to fund him.
If those Democrat millionaires think it’ll be worth challenging if attorneys can win and if it works toward their goals controlling Alaska future.
The arrogance of Decoy Dan Sullivan trying to file with US Senator’s middle initial….
If he kept his mouth quieter he probably could had not given the Red flag to div of election
Sounds like Run Forest Run and Wild Bill Wielechowski are interested in dragging this out! Hopefully they can convince Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. that it is his right to confuse himself and voters by trying to file under Dan S. Sullivan. These people are openly making a mockery of our election process.
Should be able to find some criminal charges for the decoy. Maybe turn on Mary to save his skin.