Sullivan, Peltola advance in Alaska primary amid ranked-choice voting debate

Alaska held its primary election on Tuesday evening with the results now clear: Republican Senator Dan Sullivan and Democrat Mary Peltola will face each other in November in a race that could tip the balance of power in the U.S. Senate. Two other candidates also advanced from the state's unusual nonpartisan primary system, setting the stage for a general election that will use ranked choice voting—a method that has become as much a subject of debate as the candidates themselves.

Alaska's primary process is unlike most of the country. Instead of separate Republican and Democratic contests, all candidates run together on a single ballot, and the top four vote-getters advance to the general election. In November, voters will rank their preferred candidates in order. If a voter's first choice is eliminated, their vote automatically transfers to their second choice, and so on. Supporters argue this gives voters more power and allows candidates outside the major parties to compete fairly. Critics, including Senator Sullivan, see it as a recipe for confusion.

That concern took on concrete form this year when Alaska's ballot featured two candidates named Dan Sullivan. The challenger, Dan J. Sullivan, is a logger who worked in construction, bartending, and forestry before deciding to run for Senate. His campaign materials offered little detail about his positions on issues. Instead, they emphasized the name overlap: "Dan Sullivan challenges Dan Sullivan for U.S. Senate Seat, urges Alaskans to defeat incumbent, elect a Sullivan who stands up for Alaska." Republicans immediately cried foul, viewing the candidacy as a deliberate attempt to split votes and confuse voters in a ranked choice system. Senator Sullivan called it an effort to "steal an election."

The suspicion deepened when reporting revealed that Amber Lee, a progressive political consultant who had previously worked for Peltola, had helped write some of Dan J. Sullivan's campaign materials. The connection fueled Republican allegations that Democrats were orchestrating the whole thing. "The Democrats in D.C., the Peltola campaign, are complicit in trying to trick Alaskans," Senator Sullivan said, dismissing Democratic claims about supporting fair elections. Peltola's campaign did not acknowledge involvement in the rival Sullivan's candidacy.

Peltola herself is a significant figure in Alaska politics. In 2022, she became the only Democrat to win a statewide election in Alaska in fifty years when she claimed the state's at-large House seat. She lost that seat in 2024 to Republican Nicholas Begich in a close race—51.2 percent to 48.8 percent. Despite the loss, national Democrats view her as their best shot at flipping Sullivan's Senate seat. Former Vice President Kamala Harris wrote in a fundraising email that "if there's anyone who can flip Alaska and secure the Senate majority for Democrats—it's Mary."

Now the four candidates who advanced from Tuesday's primary will compete again on November 3rd. The race will unfold under Alaska's ranked choice system, the very mechanism that Sullivan has criticized as confusing and that Republicans believe was weaponized against him. Whether that system will prove decisive, or whether the two Dan Sullivans will actually muddy the waters as feared, remains to be seen.