Alaska Top-Four Primary Puts Fringe Candidates on Senate and House Ballots
Left 33%
Center 67%
Right 0%
1 left · 2 center · 0 right
What happened
The Alaska Division of Elections has finalized the November general-election ballots after the state's nonpartisan top-four primary, in which the four highest vote-getters advance and the general election is decided by ranked-choice voting. In the U.S. Senate race, Democrat Mary Peltola, incumbent Republican Sen. Dan S. Sullivan, Republican Daniel J. Sullivan, and Republican Gerald Heikes will appear after fourth-place Democrat David Leslie withdrew and fifth-place Heikes took his place. Elections officials had initially disqualified Daniel J. Sullivan, a former teacher who shares the incumbent's name, citing a determined effort to confuse voters, but the Alaska Supreme Court allowed him to remain; state and federal authorities are investigating his campaign. For Alaska's at-large U.S. House seat, Republican Rep. Nick Begich, Independent Bill Hill, and Democrat Eric Hafner advanced after Democrat Matt Schultz suspended his campaign; Hafner is a convicted felon serving a 20-year prison sentence in New York after pleading guilty to making threatening communications to state officials. Alaska voters approved the top-four system in 2020, and it was first used in 2022.
BLINDSPOT.
Only left-leaning outlets are covering this story
— the other side's media is silent.
Omitted — what each side leaves out
Unpacked
Left-leaning coverage never mentions Alaska's House race, so a reader does not learn that the same top-four primary also put a convicted felon on the November ballot. NBC News reports the Senate finalists as Dan J. Sullivan, Sen. Dan S. Sullivan, Gerald Heikes, and Mary Peltola after a Democrat withdrew, and it names the governor field. It covers legal challenges that call the second Sullivan a spoiler, a court ruling keeping him on the ballot, and an ongoing investigation. Eric Hafner, serving a prison sentence in New York for threatening communications, is absent. Right-leaning outlets had not covered this as of publication, leaving that audience without either race.
Left-leaning coverage leads with matching Senate names and frames the race as a "potential pickup for Democrats." The imprisoned House candidate is never introduced.
If a candidate serving a prison sentence in New York wins Alaska's House seat, can he serve?
Bottom line
Read NBC News and you get two men named Dan Sullivan for Senate; you never hear that a New York prisoner advanced to Alaska's House general election under the same primary.
The receipts — 5 facts one side's coverage lacks
- Eric Hafner, a convicted felon serving a 20-year prison sentence in New York, advanced to the general election for Alaska's at-large House seat
- An Alaska election official ruled Dan J. Sullivan ineligible, citing a determined effort and a deliberate attempt to confuse voters
- The Alaska Supreme Court allowed Dan J. Sullivan to remain on the ballot after the Division of Elections had disqualified him
- Democrat David Leslie withdrew, elevating fifth-place Republican Gerald Heikes onto the Senate general-election ballot
- Alaska voted in 2020 to replace party primaries with a top-four system, first used in 2022
The Left View
NBC News reports that Peltola finished first in the all-party Senate primary, that two candidates named Dan Sullivan will appear with Republican Gerald Heikes, and that the 2026 contest is highly competitive and a potential Democratic pickup. Those accounts stress the shared-name novelty, Republican legal challenges alleging Daniel J. Sullivan is a spoiler coordinated with Peltola (denied by both campaigns), the Alaska Supreme Court ruling that kept him on the ballot after an initial disqualification, and ongoing state and federal investigations; they also note the governor's-race field after Tom Begich's withdrawal. CBS News frames the same primary as putting fringe and longshot candidates on the November ballot, including the same-name Senate challenger and House candidate Eric Hafner, a felon serving 20 years in New York who has previously run in Alaska, Hawaii, and Oregon. CBS additionally reports Independent Bill Hill's House advancement, the 2020 election-system change meant to reduce polarization, and earlier unusual Alaska outcomes such as Lisa Murkowski's 2010 write-in win.
Our Take (balanced)
The story is substantive: it rests on official Division of Elections certifications, named candidates, primary finish order, a documented withdrawal, a state Supreme Court ruling, a public criminal conviction, and on-the-record allegations and denials. Established facts include the four Senate names (Peltola, Dan S. Sullivan, Daniel J. Sullivan, Heikes), Leslie's withdrawal, Hafner's incarceration and prior candidacies, Begich's and Hill's advancement, and the top-four and ranked-choice rules. What remains alleged is that Daniel J. Sullivan coordinated with Peltola as a spoiler or made a deliberate effort to confuse voters; both campaigns deny coordination, the elections official's disqualification was reversed by the court, and investigations have not produced public findings. No right-leaning outlet has reported this. Watch for results of the state and federal investigations into Daniel J. Sullivan's campaign, any further ballot litigation, official statements from the Division of Elections or the candidates, and how ranked-choice voting is applied in November.
4 sources
- Alaska finalizes Senate race for November: 3 Republicans, including 2 named Dan Sullivan, and 1 Democrat
- Alaska finalizes Senate race: 3 Republicans, 2 Dan Sullivans and 1 Democrat
- Alaska finalizes Senate race for November: 3 Republicans — 2 Dan Sullivans — and 1 Democrat
- Alaska's top 4 primary puts unlikely longshot candidates on ballot
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