“I’m the one that said ‘Do it,'” President Trump told reporters in Florida on Friday. He was talking about a Justice Department lawsuit aimed at one of the most brazen ballot tricks of the 2026 cycle: a second “Dan Sullivan” on Alaska’s U.S. Senate ballot.
The suit, filed Oct. 23 in federal court in Alaska, asks that state officials be blocked from certifying the Senate result if the race is distorted by voter confusion. Sen. Dan S. Sullivan, the Republican incumbent, faces Democrat Mary Peltola in a race that could decide control of the Senate.
Dear Alaska Voters: Dan S. Sullivan = S = Senator Daniel J. Sullivan = J = Joker Vote for Dan S. Sullivan. https://t.co/km9n3twfXF
— 🇺🇸 Mike Davis 🇺🇸 (@mrddmia) October 23, 2026
Who is the other Dan Sullivan?
His name is Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., a former Forest Service employee who, according to Alaska’s own Division of Elections, joined the Republican Party just two days before filing to run and filed under the plain name “Dan Sullivan.”
State officials saw through it. In a June 15 letter, Division Director Carol Beecher found the filing was not a good-faith run for the Senate but was made “with a purpose to confuse or mislead.” Her findings, as reported by Legal Insurrection, noted that he had never registered to vote as “Dan Sullivan,” that his campaign website was identical to the senator’s, and that a political consultant for him admitted a long record of supporting Democrats, including Peltola.
The Washington Free Beacon traced more ties. The candidate hired Amber Lee, a Democratic strategist who has backed Peltola. Lee’s partner, Alan Harris, hand-delivered the candidacy form on June 1. Harris then appeared in an ad attacking the real Sen. Sullivan, run starting June 16 by Majority Forward, a nonprofit tied to Chuck Schumer’s Senate Majority PAC. That came days after Schumer’s team denied any role in the decoy campaign.
Courts put him back on
A state court reversed the Division’s decision, and the Alaska Supreme Court upheld that reversal on June 29, putting him on the August primary ballot. He took 2.5% and finished third. Because Alaska’s ranked-choice system sends the top four primary finishers to November, he is now on the general election ballot too.
In its complaint, the Justice Department argues that certifying a result “tainted by the inclusion on the ballot” of Daniel J. Sullivan would fail the state’s duty to protect election integrity. DOJ says the race is within one or two points in polls, close enough that the decoy could tip it.
The candidate says he followed the rules and filed under his legal name, calling the shared name a “matter of fate.” Senate Majority PAC called the ad link “much ado about nothing” and said the spot was filmed before he filed.
The bottom line
Alaska’s own election office looked at this candidacy and found it was built to fool voters. A copycat website. A party switch two days before filing. A Democratic strategist in the back room. If Republicans had pulled this against a Democratic senator, every newsroom in America would be calling it voter suppression.
Voters deserve to know whose name they are marking. Ballots are not a shell game, and a Senate seat should never be won by confusing people into voting for the wrong man.
Trump said “do it.” He was right.