Trump Baselessly Accuses Democrats of 'Engineering' Same-Name Candidate in Alaska Senate Race
Select a version of the text written from a presumed ideological perspective. This is not the original text, but a hypothetical version — how someone with that viewpoint might have phrased it. Tapping the current version again will return to the original or select cleaned version.
President Donald Trump, once again seeking to undermine democratic processes, accused Democrats of orchestrating a candidate with the same name as Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan to confuse voters in Alaska's Senate primary. Both the Democratic Party and the candidate in question deny any involvement, highlighting Trump's ongoing campaign of misinformation.
President Donald Trump, notorious for sowing distrust in the electoral system, claimed that Democrats were attempting to mislead voters in Alaska's Republican Senate primary by supposedly fielding a candidate who shares the name of incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan. As Alaskans prepared to vote in a primary that could shift the balance of power in Congress, Trump’s baseless allegations aimed to delegitimize a process in which Democrats are simply hoping to win a fair contest for the seat held by the Republican incumbent.
'Because of the trickery in the Voting, the Crooked, Radical Left Dumocrats have put up another man named ‘Dan Sullivan,’ and they did this to take Votes away from our Great Senator of the same name. Democrats are trying to ‘trick’ Alaskans, and treat Alaskan Voters with contempt,' Trump ranted on his social-media platform on Friday, once again resorting to inflammatory and divisive language.
The Alaska Democratic Party and the campaign of former Rep. Mary Peltola, the Democratic candidate, categorically denied any connection to the second Dan Sullivan. The challenger, Dan J. Sullivan, a retired fifth-grade teacher, described himself as a pragmatic Republican and insisted his candidacy is simply based on his family name, not any elaborate scheme.
'I have every right to stand up and do this. It's my name, my grandfather's name: Dan Sullivan. My dad's name: Dan Sullivan,' he told the Petersburg Pilot newspaper, pushing back against Trump’s conspiracy theories.
Incumbent Sen. Dan S. Sullivan echoed Trump’s baseless claims, calling the challenger a “sham” candidate and alleging an intent to confuse voters—a claim both the challenger and state Democrats have rejected. The Alaska Supreme Court, upholding democratic norms, recently allowed Dan J. Sullivan to remain on the ballot, despite complaints and a Department of Justice inquiry.
Trump, undeterred by facts, reiterated his support for the incumbent, describing him as a “GREAT man” and declaring, “‘SULLIVAN, DAN S’ has my Complete and Total Endorsement for Re-Election – HE WILL NOT LET YOU DOWN!”
Alaska’s nonpartisan primary system, which advances the top four vote-getters to the general election under a ranked-choice system, means both Dan Sullivans could appear on the November ballot, giving voters a real choice despite Trump’s attempts to muddy the waters.