Dan J. Sullivan advances to November ballot above incumbent namesake

Alaska Republican Party sought the retired teacher’s removal

Dan J. Sullivan Jr., a 69-year-old retired elementary school teacher from Petersburg, advanced to Alaska’s November U.S. Senate ballot after finishing third in the Aug. 18 open primary. He will appear above Republican Sen. Dan S. Sullivan, 61, who has held the seat for 12 years and is waging a close contest with Democratic challenger and former congresswoman Mary Peltola.

Peltola received 82,244 primary votes, while the incumbent received 68,726. Dan J. drew 4,107 votes and finished ahead of 13 other challengers. Because J precedes S alphabetically, the teacher’s name will appear above the senator’s on the ballot.

“I’m not an election guru, but the potential for confusion with two Dan Sullivans is there,” said Joe Geldhof, a Juneau-based lawyer and Republican strategist.

Dan J. filed to run in May. He has talked about downsizing and spending more time somewhere warm in retirement, and he said people would joke about his shared name with the senator.

“People would joke around and say ‘I wish you were senator. Oh, there’s the senator,’” he said in his workshop outside Petersburg. “Well, you know, why not? I’m retired. I have the time.”

Dan J. moved to Petersburg in 1980 from his native Illinois to take a forestry job. He later taught at Rae C. Stedman Elementary School, where he started a fifth-grade guitar class devoted to classics from AC/DC and others. “Kids loved him,” said Cena Worhatch, the school administrative assistant.

After retiring in 2021, Dan J. continued playing music. During 2026, he has sat in at open-mic nights at the Clausen Museum, where performers play in a room containing old cannery gear and a taxidermied 126.5-pound king salmon. He has also taught guitar at Bearing Song since owner Sarah C. Hanson-Hofstetter hired him to fix a door.

Dan J. told an Irish song jam session in June that he was running for Senate. Hanson-Hofstetter said she teared up when he told the group.

“I just really thought that was great,” she said, “because I know how much he prizes his downtime.”

The Alaska Republican Party lodged a complaint with state election officials seeking Dan J.’s removal after he filed to run in May. The party labeled him a Democratic plant. Dan J. was a recently registered Republican and had previously been an independent.

Republican state Sen. Bert Stedman called the candidacy “one of the most sleazy political ploys you will ever see.” Conservatives called Dan J. “Decoy Dan.” A third Dan Sullivan, the former mayor of Anchorage, endorsed the incumbent senator.

Dan J. told his local newspaper that he registered as a Republican after the Alaska Independence Party dissolved late last year. He said no one put him up to the run. On Facebook, where he campaigns, he responded to the criticism by posting an old photograph of himself hunting.

“It brings back memories of hunkering down behind an old cottonwood drift log…drinking black coffee from a Stanley thermos and waiting for mallards to whistle by,” he wrote.

In another Facebook post, Dan J. wrote: “We are involved in an ill-conceived war with Iran and a bewildering trade war with Canada. Gasoline, food, housing and medical costs seem to increase daily. No matter how many times Washington tells us all is well in America, most of us see that as an absurd fallacy.”

The Division of Elections removed Dan J. from the ballot, but a state judge overruled the decision after he appealed and argued that he met the qualifications. The incumbent’s supporters have also written “Dan S.” on his “Sullivan U.S. Senate” yard signs. President Trump has vowed to fly to Alaska to campaign for the senator.

A person familiar with the incumbent’s campaign said the senator is focused on defeating Peltola. The Peltola campaign said she is not concerned about who else appears on the ballot and disavowed any involvement in Dan J.’s campaign.

Residents of Petersburg, an island fishing village of 3,400 people, expressed differing views of Dan J.’s candidacy. Mindy Anderson, 57, called him intelligent and nice as she cleaned up after the lunch rush at the Salty Pantry and fishermen walked past from the docks.

“Why not someone like Dan Sullivan from Petersburg, Alaska?” she asked.

Grant Trask, an 81-year-old retired commercial fisherman, said the run did not make sense to him.

“I just find it a mystery that he hates Trump enough that he wants to be a United States senator,” Trask said.

“He didn’t say he hated Trump,” said his wife, Lila Trask, 79, who considers Dan J. sincere. “He said he didn’t like Sullivan’s policies.”

In the forest south of town, Kandi and Mike Woodworth paused while remodeling their home to criticize Dan J.

“You know, you got to wonder what’s the motive,” said Kandi Woodworth, 71.

Mike Woodworth, 65, noted that Dan J. received 66 of the 555 votes cast in their area.

“Which tells you those are the ones that got fooled because they didn’t know which one they were voting for,” he said.

Dan J. met a visitor in his shop below his family’s cabin outside Petersburg after stipulating that they not discuss politics. Wearing work pants and a puffer jacket and surrounded by his tools, he poured coffee and discussed the interviews he had given.

“I’ve talked to lots of Alaska reporters, and I’m very comfortable with that,” he said. “But the national thing to me is, you know, slight clickbait. ‘Oh, here’s this guy. He’s funny.’”

Dan J. said he is pressing ahead with his campaign.

“You know, from outside, this looks like ‘This dude running for a U.S. Senate seat, how crazy that is?!’” he said. “But there’s not a lot of people here, and you step up and do things that you might not normally do if you live somewhere else.”