Breaking: ‘Decoy Dan’ admits he may quit if he reaches final four, and says he registered Republican to ‘take it to’ Sen. Sullivan

By SUZANNE DOWNING

Aug. 14, 2026 – Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., the same-name challenger running against US Sen. Dan Sullivan, has given Alaskans perhaps the clearest evidence yet that his candidacy is less about winning a Senate seat than interfering with the incumbent Republican’s reelection.

In a sympathetic profile published Friday, the Chicago Tribune reported that the former Chicagoan and current Petersburg retiree has not even decided whether he would continue his campaign if Alaska voters place him among the four candidates advancing to the November general election.

“If he ends up in the top four next week, he said he’ll then decide whether he keeps going,” the Tribune reported. “If he doesn’t make it to the top, he’ll go back to planning his next trip to Chicago.”

That is an extraordinary admission from someone asking Alaskans to send him into a general election that could determine control of the US Senate.

Candidates normally enter a race because they intend to win it. Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. is now openly saying that even if voters give him one of only four places on the November ballot, he may walk away.

He’s revealed that the purpose of his campaign was never to serve six years in the Senate, but rather to create enough confusion in the primary to damage the incumbent.

The Tribune interview also reveals a shifting explanation for why the former Alaskan Independence Party voter abruptly registered as a Republican shortly before filing for office.

Sullivan first told the newspaper that the Alaskan Independence Party had dissolved and that he otherwise would have been listed as undeclared. That explanation makes Republican registration sound almost administrative.

But then he admitted the strategic reason.

“I chose Republican because I wanted to take it to the senator,” Sullivan told the Tribune.

In other words, he did not merely select the Republican Party because his previous party was no longer recognized. He knew that using the same name and party affiliation as the incumbent would create an immediate comparison, and said he chose Republican specifically to confront Sen. Sullivan.

He confirmed that he is a decoy — Decoy Dan.

Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. had never previously been registered as a Republican. He initially sought to appear on the ballot as “Dan Sullivan,” and launched a campaign using imagery that closely resembled the incumbent’s campaign material.

Those circumstances prompted Alaska Division of Elections Director Carol Beecher to determine in June that the candidacy had not been filed in good faith. Beecher concluded that it was intended to “confuse or mislead” voters and compromise the neutrality of the ballot. A Superior Court judge later ruled that the Division lacked the legal authority to impose a good-faith test beyond the qualifications established by the Constitution, and the Alaska Supreme Court allowed the challenger to remain on the ballot.

The final ballot identifies him as “Daniel J. Sullivan Jr.” and identifies Sen. Dan Sullivan as the incumbent. Party affiliations are not displayed.

The legal ruling settled whether Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. was constitutionally eligible to appear on the ballot. It did not settle the political question of why he entered the race.

His latest comments make that question even more pressing.

If he truly wants to become Alaska’s next U.S. senator, why would advancing to the final four merely trigger a later decision about whether to continue? And if he does not intend to campaign through November, why ask Alaskans to give him a place that could otherwise go to a candidate who does?

Under Alaska’s ranked-choice voting system, the final four is not a ceremonial distinction. Every candidate who remains on the general-election ballot can affect voter behavior, ranking strategies and the eventual redistribution of votes.

If he advances, Democratic strategists could decide whether keeping a second “Republican Dan Sullivan” on the ballot helps Mary Peltola, or whether the decoy has become counterproductive and should be pressured to withdraw, rather than go into the ranked-choice general.

Decoy Dan denies coordinating with Peltola, her campaign or the Alaska Democratic Party. All have denied involvement in his candidacy. No direct evidence of coordination has been publicly established.

But coordination is not required for a decoy candidacy to benefit another campaign. The confusion itself can be the benefit.

The Chicago Tribune profile leans heavily into Decoy Dan’s Illinois background. He grew up in Chicago’s south suburbs, graduated from Homewood-Flossmoor High School, still enjoys deep-dish sausage pizza and roots for both the White Sox and Cubs. One of his brothers is a Tribune columnist.

That background produces another striking contrast: For years, Alaska Democrats and their allies have derisively called the incumbent “Ohio Dan” because he was born in Ohio, despite his long Alaska public-service record and his marriage into an Alaska Native family.

Yet the same voices appear remarkably untroubled by “Chicago Dan,” whose hometown newspaper just devoted a glowing feature to his campaign and his Chicago roots.

The Tribune titled its article, “‘It’s time for a change’: Former Chicagoan Dan Sullivan takes on Alaskan senator with same name.”

The article may have been intended as a warm hometown profile. Instead, it produced two of the most damaging statements the challenger has made: He registered as a Republican because he “wanted to take it to the senator,” and he may abandon the campaign even if voters advance him.