Dan Sullivan has always felt a visceral connection with strangers who share his name. Meeting them is fun. “Serendipitous” even.
For example, he said, he swapped family stories with a Dan Sullivan in line for TSA PreCheck in Chicago some years ago. An employee rattling off names had called for Dan Sullivan and they both raised their hands.
Sullivan, who grew up in the south suburbs but now lives in Alaska, said he’s had the exact opposite experience when it comes to the Last Frontier’s junior senator — aka the other Dan Sullivan.
“(The senator) has a history of enacting programs and interacting with the public … where if you disagree with me you’re part of some left-wing conspiracy to destroy Alaska,” he told the Tribune. “It just hit me a little harder than it would hit other people.”
So Sullivan, the one who said he still roots for both the White Sox and Cubs, launched his own somewhat unconventional Senate campaign. He’s lived in Alaska for nearly 50 years, and before next Tuesday’s primary election, he wants to impress upon his neighbors that the GOP incumbent shouldn’t be anywhere near Congress. He’s also running as a Republican.
It’s a contentious race that has national implications beyond a quibble over names. With control of the U.S. Senate up for grabs, Republicans want to hold onto their majority. Democrats think they have a chance of winning in Alaska. And experts say even a small blip could make a difference.
“Alaska tends to not be a swing state in terms of presidential elections, but it is an electorate that seems to very much value its political independence,” said Jon Rogowski, a political science professor at the University of Chicago.
Growing up in Chicago
Dan J. Sullivan was raised in what he described as the “typical Chicago Irish Catholic family.” His family moved from the city to the suburbs for more space, giving Sullivan fond memories of exploring the prairie and woods past their subdivision.
“I was fortunate to grow up in those boomer days, when my dad could work and my mom stayed home and raised six kids,” the 69-year-old said. “The economy was booming such that we could have a decent standard of living.”
His father worked in the steel industry and helped instill a strong work ethic in his children, Sullivan said. He preached the importance of being a “kind and honest human being.”
Sullivan also got his name from his father. He’s a third-generation Dan Sullivan, and his broader family is also rife with Dans. It’s a way of honoring the family name, he said.
“It’s funny when I had my kids and I asked my wife, ‘If we had a boy, what do you think about Dan?’ She looked at me like no,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan graduated from Homewood-Flossmoor High School in 1975 and then got a forestry degree from Southeastern Illinois College five years later. This industry is how he ended up settling thousands of miles away in Alaska.
He still enjoys deep-dish sausage pizza and catching a Chicago baseball game, especially now that it’s much easier to watch the games from afar with the internet. His family lives on the North Side but he grew up a White Sox fan, so he supports both.
“I have to give a totally politician answer because it’s true,” he said.
One of Sullivan’s siblings, Paul Sullivan, is the In the Wake of the News columnist for the Tribune. Paul Sullivan said he and his brother don’t necessarily share all the same political opinions, or talk much about them, but that he’s very intelligent and informed about issues that impact Alaskans.
Sullivan lives in a small fishing town called Petersburg where there’s no traffic lights and no big-box stores. It’s only accessible by plane or boat, he added. Living in a remote area is what gave him the confidence to do something as ambitious as running for Congress. In small towns, “people step up and do things,” he said.
“People think running for a Senate seat is crazy, and in many ways it is. But it just doesn’t feel as audacious as it might to an outsider,” Sullivan said. “I’ve done a lot of things here that I didn’t imagine I would do when I was growing up in Chicago.”
A new vision of a Republican
When the incumbent Republican made a vote or statement Sullivan disagreed with, he said it deeply affected him. Part of it was because of the attachment he feels with their shared name, he said.
Sullivan doesn’t think his opponent is as accountable to or communicative with his constituents as he should be. He thinks his rhetoric is too divisive. He also accused the senator of being too inclined to turn over Congress’s power to the president.
Sullivan said he toyed for years with running for office, mostly in a joking manner. But recent news events made him reconsider. The DOGE cuts hit Alaska too hard, Sullivan said, and he took particular issue with the senator’s silence on President Donald Trump’s “anti-weaponization” fund. He wants to focus on lowering energy and housing costs.
“There can be a vision of a Republican that addresses the needs of more people than just a real narrow base or a MAGA base,” Sullivan said.
While he isn’t a seasoned politician, he said he has a myriad of life experiences that make him qualified for the job. He’s a retired teacher who watched others get priced out of the profession. He said he’s a father of two and a former volunteer fireman.
The incumbent senator, Dan S. Sullivan, isn’t buying it. He didn’t respond to a request for comment for this article, but he’s previously said the other Sullivan’s campaign is a dishonest trick meant to confuse voters. He accused his main rival, former Democratic U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola, of orchestrating the scheme.
Alaska has an open primary system where the four candidates who get the most votes, regardless of party, advance to the ranked-choice general election in November. There are 16 candidates on the ballot.
“Everybody in Alaska knows I’m Dan Sullivan-R. So he’s trying to do that. Why?” the senator said of the other Dan Sullivan, according to the Associated Press. “He’s not an R. He’s purposely trying to trick my constituents to rig the election for Peltola.”
A spokesperson for Peltola’s campaign, Harry Child, as well as a spokesperson for the state’s Democratic Party denied any involvement. Sullivan also denied having any contact with them.
Sullivan was previously registered with the Alaskan Independence Party. But because it’s now dissolved, Sullivan said he would have been labeled “undeclared.” So he registered as a Republican when filing to run for office.
He considers himself as leaning toward the center with touches of libertarianism, and said he certainly isn’t a Democrat. He also knew his selection would draw an immediate comparison with the senator.
“I chose Republican because I wanted to take it to the senator,” he said. “The Republican Party has a place, and that they don’t have to be the party of Donald Trump. They have ideas that are valuable. These are things that I saw exemplified in the family that I grew up in.”
A ballot fight
What followed was a weekslong fight over how Sullivan would appear on the ballot, or if he would even appear at all.
The Alaska Division of Elections attempted to disqualify him back in June, a decision he sued over. The Alaska Supreme Court determined he could appear, however the elections division could decide exactly how his name would be listed.
They settled on “Daniel J. Sullivan Jr.” His Republican party designation isn’t listed, and the senator is labeled as the incumbent. It’s a decision Sullivan said he doesn’t entirely agree with, but he wanted to move on from pricey litigation and focus on the issues. He said he doesn’t plan to endorse another candidate if he loses.
“There’s 15 other people running, and because of the fortune or misfortune of having a different name, there’s no question of whether they should be allowed to run,” he said. “And because of my name, I’m held to this totally different standard.”
He also argued that his fellow Alaskans are a pretty savvy bunch, referencing Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s historic write-in campaign victory in 2010. He said he taught his fifth-graders in history class that it’s their responsibility as a citizen to be an informed voter.
“I think the majority of voters, the great, great majority of voters, are going to get it,” he said.
Rogowski, the U. of C. professor, said primaries tend to be low-information contests for many voters, meaning they default to partisanship or incumbency to guide their decisions. He suspects the differentiation in the Sullivans’ names on the ballot will reduce most of the ambiguity.
While these are some of the most similar candidate names Rogowski’s heard of, that doesn’t mean it’s the only case.
He pointed to the 1996 Warner vs. Warner election in Virginia. Mark Warner, the current Virginia senator, ran unsuccessfully against incumbent Republican John Warner. He even had bumper stickers that said “Mark, not John.” (There’s no relation between the two.)
“The incumbent still won, but an open question is whether the contest was closer than one might have expected, because some voters were not sure of the distinction between John and Mark Warner when they went to the ballot box.”
Rogowski said a bigger question may be whether listing the senator as an “incumbent” could hurt his chances, especially in an election cycle where voters seem to be in an anti-incumbent mood.
Ruth Bloch Rubin, also a U. of C. political science professor, likewise said incumbents are “historically unpopular.” It’s plausible that some Republicans may want to steer the party in a different direction, she said.
“We tend to think that midterm elections are an opportunity to weigh in on how the president is performing, even though you’re electing members of Congress,” she said.
But it’s still unclear, she said, who will benefit or be disadvantaged with so much talk of names.
“The more the candidates are arguing about names, the less they’re talking about issues,” she said.
‘Willing to be that change’
When Sullivan decided to run, he expected some attention because of his name. The amount of it, however, caught him completely off guard.
At first, he called it “overwhelming but fairly humorous.” There were lots of jokes, memes and even a Jimmy Fallon skit. When he was removed from the ballot, however, it took a darker turn. He said he decreased his social media intake, which is where he’s done most of his campaigning.
Ultimately he said he wants to make a difference and fight for a bright future for young people. Putting up a yard sign or writing a letter to the editor didn’t seem like it went far enough.
If he ends up in the top four next week, he said he’ll then decide whether he keeps going. If he doesn’t make it to the top, he’ll go back to planning his next trip to Chicago.
“I can’t imagine six more years of this,” he said. “It’s time for a change. I am willing to be that change if my message resonates with people.”
