Two names and an uncertain voter
Martone, whose name was reported by Mediaite, told NewsNation's Nancy Loo that he had forgotten to check for two candidates named Dan Sullivan. When Loo pointed out that both names appeared together on the ballot, he could not recall seeing the second one.
"I don't remember seeing the other Dan Sullivan," Martone said. "I totally forgot to look for two Dan Sullivans." He confirmed that he had meant to support the incumbent: "Oh, I definitely intended to vote for the real Dan Sullivan."
According to Mediaite, Loo described Martone as "genuinely confused." Martone said there was "a slight possibility" he had voted for the wrong Sullivan, while hoping he was "just kinda getting paranoid." He wanted to examine a sample ballot to check the candidates' positions.
The incumbent is listed as "Dan S. Sullivan," with Republican and incumbent designations. The other candidate, a retired teacher, appears as "Daniel J. Sullivan Jr." with no party affiliation. According to the Associated Press, those listings were also used in the August open primary, when Dan J. Sullivan won about 2.5% of the vote and secured one of the four general-election spots.
Another voter interviewed by Loo on Monday expressed anger rather than uncertainty. The unnamed woman said she associated the candidate's "J" with "Jerk" and accused him of running to deceive voters. "He never meant to run," she said, adding that the episode "puts a real bad mark on the state of Alaska."
Recruitment allegations and denials
Less than a week before the interviews, The New York Times reported that Democrat Mary Peltola's Senate campaign had begun a secret recruitment effort in 2025 to find another Alaskan named Dan Sullivan willing to enter the race. The reported aim was to confuse supporters of the Republican incumbent and split his vote.
Peltola's campaign disputes the Times reporting. Dan J. Sullivan has said entering the race was his own decision.
Discussing the report last week, CNN's Kaitlan Collins said the Times cited interviews with 12 people, including people who participated in or knew about the plan and prospective candidates the team sought to recruit. "It's not like they just had one person saying this," Collins said.
The Justice Department also escalated a criminal investigation into Dan J. Sullivan's ballot presence in late October, issuing new grand jury subpoenas, the AP reported. FBI agents began contacting his campaign donors; some donors told the AP that agents asked whether they had been misled about which Sullivan they were supporting.
Ballot challenges and a federal appeal
Republican-backed efforts to exclude Dan J. Sullivan from the August primary failed in state courts, including the Alaska Supreme Court. A separate federal challenge reached a setback two days before the general election.
On Sunday, Nov. 1, U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason dismissed a Justice Department lawsuit seeking to prevent certification of the Senate result if the Republican incumbent loses. She called the requested relief "infeasible": voting was already underway, and the government had not provided a workable way to separate ballots cast for Daniel J. Sullivan while protecting ballot secrecy.
The Justice Department filed a notice of appeal shortly after the ruling. Alaska's Republican governor has also ordered an investigation and suggested he might decline to certify a Peltola victory, according to the AP.
Nearly 100,000 ballots had been cast by Nov. 2, according to On Point Politics. The extent of any voter confusion remains unknown.
Ranked-choice voting and Senate control
Alaska's contest is one of a handful expected to decide which party controls the Senate during the final two years of President Donald Trump's term. Peltola, a former Alaska representative, is the only Democrat among the four candidates.
Under the state's ranked-choice system, a candidate who receives a majority in the first count wins. Otherwise, the last-place candidate is eliminated and supporters' second choices are counted, with elimination and redistribution continuing until a winner emerges.
Politico reported Oct. 20 that Peltola prevailed in two recent polls that simulated ranked-choice counting. The Washington Examiner reported Oct. 29 that the incumbent Sullivan had instructed Republican supporters not to rank Peltola on their ballots.
