Washington — The upcoming general election in November will feature contests for both the House and Senate in Alaska, following the results of the state’s nonpartisan top-four primary, which has led to the inclusion of unconventional candidates on the ballot. Among those is a candidate with the same name as the current senator, as well as a convicted felon who is currently serving a 20-year sentence in New York.
CBS News has indicated that Republican Senator Dan Sullivan and former Democratic Representative Mary Peltola will advance to the general election in the Senate race, which is expected to play a crucial role in determining Senate control in the coming year. With all votes counted as of September 1, both Republican Daniel J. Sullivan and Democrat David Leslie secured their spots in the general election, which will utilize ranked-choice voting. However, Leslie has since withdrawn from the race, allowing another Republican candidate, Gerald Heikes, to take his place on the ballot.
The situation became more complex with the emergence of Daniel J. Sullivan, a challenger sharing the same full name as the incumbent senator, who declared his candidacy in June. This led to discussions about his removal from the ballot, as an election official in Alaska ruled him ineligible due to a “determined effort and a deliberate attempt” to mislead voters. Nonetheless, the challenger has appealed this decision, resulting in both candidates named Sullivan appearing on the ballot, which could pose a challenge for the incumbent in the upcoming election.
In the race for Alaska’s single House seat, CBS News projected last month that Republican Representative Nick Begich will proceed to the general election. Independent Bill Hill garnered the second-highest number of votes, followed by Democrats Matt Schultz and Eric Hafner. Schultz halted his campaign in July and will not be on the November ballot.
Hafner, a felon serving a lengthy prison sentence in New York for making threats against state officials, has previously appeared on ballots in Alaska, as well as in the 2016 House race in Hawaii and another House contest in Oregon in 2018.
In 2020, Alaska voters opted to revise their election system, a change that was first put into practice in 2022. This new system eliminated party primaries in an effort to reduce political polarization. Alaska has a history of unusual electoral outcomes, notably in 2010 when Senator Lisa Murkowski successfully won reelection through a write-in campaign after losing in the Republican primary.
