{"id":681,"date":"2026-06-30T14:38:35","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T14:38:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/propertytransitionmedia.com\/?p=681"},"modified":"2026-06-30T14:38:35","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T14:38:35","slug":"imposter-candidate-can-appear-on-ballot-ahead-of-alaska-senate-primary-state-supreme-court-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/propertytransitionmedia.com\/?p=681","title":{"rendered":"‘Imposter’ Candidate Can Appear On Ballot Ahead Of Alaska Senate Primary, State Supreme Court Rules"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\u201cDecoy Dan\u201d can appear on Alaska\u2019s primary ballot, according to an 11th-hour ruling that saved the campaign of a Senate candidate accused of being a political con man.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more Alito: Nuking Single-Day Elections Opens \u2018Pandora\u2019s Box\u2019 Of Voter Fraud<\/a><\/p>\n

On Monday, the Alaska Supreme Court upheld a lower court\u2019s ruling that Daniel J. Sullivan should not have been decertified by the state\u2019s top election official, who found the \u201cRepublican\u201d is running merely to \u201cconfuse or mislead and to thereby compromise the ballot\u2019s fairness or neutrality.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018He\u2019s in it to Rig it\u2019<\/h2>\n

Sullivan, who admitted to working with a political strategist who is \u201ca known longtime supporter of Democratic candidates,\u201d is challenging Alaska\u2019s incumbent senator \u2014 who happens to also be named Dan Sullivan. He also unsuccessfully sought to use the middle initial \u201cS.\u201d on the ballot, which would have matched Sen. Sullivan\u2019s middle initial. He claimed that was a mistake.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat you chose the occasion of your declaration of candidacy for U.S. Senate to seek ballot access under a name you have not used in your interactions with the [Election] Division suggests \u2014 and in combination with the additional facts I outline in this letter leads me to conclude \u2014 that you are seeking to confuse yourself with another candidate in the race, the incumbent Senator Dan Sullivan, rather than distinguish yourself from him,\u201d Alaska Director of Elections Carol Beecher last week in a stinging rebuke.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cDecoy Dan,\u201d as his critics call him, had never been affiliated with Alaska\u2019s GOP. That changed just two days before he filed his declaration of candidacy, the Election Division\u2019s records show. And his campaign website, curiously, looks a lot like the senator\u2019s, Beecher wrote.\u00a0Beecher noted Dan J. Sullivan\u2019s ties to Amber Lee, \u201can Alaska Democratic consultant who has previously supported [former Rep. Mary Peltola, D-Alaska],\u201d Fox News reported.<\/p>\n

But Superior Court Judge Thomas Matthews in a Friday ordering the challenger back on the ballot found Beecher failed to follow the state constitution, Alaska statute, and her office\u2019s guidance in removing the second Sullivan.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead, the decision was based upon a new, previously unstated, \u2018good faith\u2019 criteria,\u201d the judge .<\/p>\n

The state\u2019s high court backed Matthews on Monday, remanding its decision back to Beecher\u2019s office \u201cto determine in the first instance\u201d how the reinstated candidate will be listed \u201cas a candidate within the confines of existing Alaska ballot design law.\u201d The court said it will issue a full opinion at a later time. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Alaska\u2019s primary isn\u2019t until Aug. 18, but the deadline for filing is Tuesday so that elections officials have enough time to print ballots, according to Fox News.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sullivan, the two-term Alaska senator, previously told Fox News Digital that his challenger\u2019s goal isn\u2019t to win an election, \u201cit\u2019s to confuse Alaskans and rig the vote for my opponent, the Democrat\u201d Peltola, who Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., helped recruit. \u201cHe\u2019s not in it to win it. He\u2019s in it to rig it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The elections director identified other reasons to doubt the legitimacy of the candidacy \u2013 including mimicking the incumbent Senator\u2019s design and color scheme on a website, metadata in electronic filings that included the name of a Democratic consultant, no previous affiliation with the Republican Party, and others.<\/p>\n

\u2018Intent on Deceiving\u2019<\/h2>\n

As Derek Muller recently wrote in the Election Law Blog, booting off the ballot a candidate who is not acting in \u201cgood faith\u201d is nothing new.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more \u2018Erroneous\u2019 SCOTUS Ruling On Election Day Ballots Screams For SAVE Act<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen a woman changed her name to Carol Moseley Braun, then later attempted to appear on the ballot, Illinois kicked her off,\u201d Muller noted. \u201cName changes are, of course, an extreme version of this problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Bullock v. Carter<\/em> that \u201ca State has an interest, if not a duty, to protect the integrity of its political processes from frivolous or fraudulent candidacies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Election integrity watchdog Honest Elections Project filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court, arguing Decoy Dan should remain off the state\u2019s primary ballot. HEP Executive Director Jason Snead said state elections officials have the authority and the duty to protect the integrity of Alaska elections.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFortunately, the Court left discretion for election officials to clearly mark this imposter candidate in a way that distinguishes him from the sitting senator whose supporters he seems intent on deceiving,\u201d Snead said in a press release following Monday\u2019s ruling. \u201cThat is the bare minimum the integrity of our elections demands, and I applaud Alaska election officials for taking this issue incredibly seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nate Adams, the senator\u2019s campaign spokesman, said the ruling is disappointing because it\u2019s clear that the \u201csham candidate\u201d is running to \u201cdeceive voters and manipulate Alaska\u2019s election system.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, we are encouraged by the fact that the Director of the Division of Elections will be able to use her expertise to differentiate between the Petersburg fraud and the incumbent \u2013 Senator Dan Sullivan \u2013 to the benefit of Alaska voters,\u201d Adams said in a statement.<\/p>\n

The challenger Sullivan told the Alaska Beacon that he\u2019s glad the legal battle is over.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was pretty stressful. I\u2019ve got to admit that,\u201d the 69-year-old retired teacher said.<\/p>\n

Alaska in the National Spotlight<\/h2>\n

The ballot battle has drawn national attention, with the Republican National Committee and the National Republican Senatorial Committee weighing in. More than a dozen GOP-controlled states filed amicus briefs in the case.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They argued that the Sullivan kerfuffle could mistakenly draw votes from the incumbent senator, which could prove costly in Alaska\u2019s \u201cnonpartisan\u201d Senate primary. The Sullivans are among 16 candidates vying for the seat, including Peltola. The top-four finishers will face off in Alaska\u2019s controversial ranked-choice general election in November.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With political control of the Senate at stake in November, Alaska could play a pivotal role in the power struggle.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more Here Are The Key Takeaways From SCOTUS\u2019 Monday Decisions<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The state Supreme Court ruled on Monday that Daniel J. Sullivan must be placed back on the ballot despite being accused of confusing voters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":680,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[1822,2375,2376,1824,868,2377,2378,73,2379,2370,2380,2381,2382,58],"class_list":["post-681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-elections","tag-alaska","tag-alaska-supreme-court","tag-bullock-v-carter","tag-carol-beecher","tag-chuck-schumer","tag-dan-sullivan","tag-decoy-dan","tag-elections","tag-former-rep-mary-peltola","tag-honest-elections-project","tag-judge-thomas-matthews","tag-primary","tag-senator-dan-sullivan","tag-u-s-supreme-court"],"yoast_head":"\n‘Imposter’ Candidate Can Appear On Ballot Ahead Of Alaska Senate Primary, State Supreme Court Rules - Property Transition Media<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/propertytransitionmedia.com\/?p=681\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"‘Imposter’ Candidate Can Appear On Ballot Ahead Of Alaska Senate Primary, State Supreme Court Rules - Property Transition Media\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The state Supreme Court ruled on Monday that Daniel J. 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