Alaska's tight Senate race is facing a new controversy over two candidates named Dan Sullivan appearing on the ballot — a twist that's drawn attention from President Trump.

The big picture: The controversy is adding uncertainty to one of the nation's most competitive Senate contests, with control of Congress on the line in next week's midterm elections.

Catch up quick: The New York Times reported this week that Democratic operatives with ties to Mary Peltola's Senate campaign helped recruit a candidate named Dan J. Sullivan to challenge Republican incumbent Dan S. Sullivan.

• Trump accused Peltola and Democrats of election fraud and called for criminal prosecution, though the Times did not establish that any laws were broken.
• Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy ordered an investigation into Peltola's campaign over the NYT report. House Republicans are also launching an Alaska Senate race probe.

Though the presence of two Sullivans in the Senate race has been known for months, the Times' report adds a new wrinkle to a dispute that's already reached the courts.

Here's what to know about the controversy.

The same-name Senate race controversy

The controversy centers on two candidates with nearly identical names appearing on Alaska's Senate ballot: Republican incumbent Dan S. Sullivan and unaffiliated challenger Daniel J. Sullivan Jr.

• The ballot will show registered Republican "Sullivan, Dan S." and unaffiliated candidate "Sullivan, Daniel J. Jr." Peltola and Republican Gerald Heikes will also be on the ballot.
• The challenger initially filed as a Republican but later changed his registration to undeclared. He will appear on the ballot without a party label.

Flashback: Concerns about the duplicate names have existed for months.

• In June, a top Alaskan election official ruled that candidate Daniel J. Sullivan was ineligible to run on the state's primary ballot.
• The official said she found the candidacy was "filed with a purpose to confuse or mislead and to thereby compromise the ballot's fairness or neutrality," per the Associated Press.

The Alaska Supreme Court later ruled that state election officials lacked the authority to disqualify Sullivan based on their concerns about his motives, allowing him to appear on the ballot.

• The court did not determine whether his candidacy was intended to mislead voters.

Trump reacts to Alaska controversy

Flashback: Last week, the Justice Department sued Alaska, seeking to block certification of the Senate election if the incumbent loses by a margin potentially attributable to voters confusing the two Sullivans.

• Both Peltola's campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee have asked a federal judge to dismiss the case.
• Alaska officials are seeking dismissal of the lawsuit, arguing that it has no legal basis and that the federal government lacks authority to intervene in a matter governed by state election law.

Zoom in: The new NYT report, published this week, cited texts, interviews and documents showing that Peltola's aides worked with Democratic operatives to recruit candidates who could siphon votes from the Republican senator.

• Per the report, a staffer was told to review every "Dan Sullivan" in the state, leading the team to Dan J. Sullivan, the retired schoolteacher who was registered as a Republican.
• Peltola's campaign and the DSCC denied recruiting Sullivan, per NYT.

The latest: The NYT report sparked a reaction from Trump this week, who wrote on Truth Social that the recruitment by Peltola's campaign was done "in order to defraud, confuse, and obfuscate the Election," in his call for Peltola and the other Sullivan to be prosecuted.

• Gov. Dunleavy ordered a state investigation on Oct. 28 into the allegations, and House Oversight Chair James Comer launched a congressional probe on Oct. 29.

What they're saying: "Mary got in this race because Alaskans deserve a champion who is fighting to lower their costs and put Alaska first, and no tweet or threat from any DC politician will keep her away from that fight," a spokesman for the Peltola campaign tells Axios. "The Alaskans for Mary campaign has no involvement with either Sullivan campaign."

The other side: In a statement to Axios, Nate Adams, a spokesman for Dan S. Sullivan, accused Peltola, her advisers and Democratic operatives of coordinating with the DSCC to recruit candidates to deliberately confuse voters.

• "We always knew this was a coordinated effort to mislead Alaskans, and Mary Peltola was counting on it staying buried until after the election. Now that she's been caught red-handed, she still won't come clean," Adams said. "Instead, she's doubling down on the lie and is now attacking the same media outlets she's been misleading for months."

How Sullivan confusion could affect the Alaska race

Why it matters: Alaska's ranked-choice voting system could limit the impact of voter confusion for the two Sullivans.

How it works: Ranked-choice voting allows voters to rank multiple candidates in order of preference. If no candidate wins a majority of first-place votes, the lower-performing candidates are eliminated and their supporters' votes go to the next-ranked choice.

• If Dan J. Sullivan is eliminated, ballots listing the incumbent as the next remaining choice would transfer to him.
• But voters who mistakenly select Dan J. Sullivan without ranking the incumbent could still cost the Republican votes in a close race.

By the numbers: Dan J. Sullivan received 2.5% of the vote in Alaska's August primary, compared with 41.4% for the incumbent and 49.5% for Peltola.

The 2026 midterms already face a messy pileup of lawsuits and ballot battles, raising fears about election confidence before voters even finish casting ballots.

Why it matters: Election challenges aren't unusual, but as the Trump administration continues to make false claims about widespread voter fraud, officials are juggling fights over voter lists, mail-ballot rules and election certification challenges.

What they're saying: "The types of challenges that we are seeing pre-election, this close to election day, are very unusual, and mostly because they are coming from the federal government," Jonathan Diaz of the Campaign Legal Center told Axios.

• "These lawsuits are frivolous," Diaz said, adding they could "create doubt in the minds of the public about the legitimacy of the election process."

"It shouldn't be allowed to happen, and it was done in conjunction with Schumer and everybody else. It's called VOTER FRAUD. It should not have been allowed to happen."

The other side: The White House referred Axios to comments President Trump made to the media.

• The Department of Justice did not respond to Axios' request for comment.

Here's some of the ways chaos and uncertainty have shaped the 2026 midterms:

California

In the Golden State, the Trump administration asked state election officials to set aside ballots from roughly 20,000 registered voters whom the DOJ suspects are noncitizens.

• A federal judge rejected that push Wednesday night, warning that the administration lacked sufficient evidence to justify potentially disenfranchising eligible voters.
• The judge noted that the DOJ had made similar claims in neighboring Nevada, where election officials determined that 185 voters the DOJ had flagged as noncitizens were actually U.S. citizens.
• Diaz told Axios that, from his perspective as a voting-rights advocate, the California battle is "not a real lawsuit. It's a political press release that they just happened to submit to the court."

The other side: The White House directed questions about the ruling to remarks Trump made Thursday, in which he said "California is very corrupt," and the state's elections are "extremely corrupt."

• He did not provide evidence for his claims.

Washington

On Monday, the two U.S. attorneys' offices in Washington state asked the state to set aside ballots from more than 400 people they allege were illegally registered to vote.

• The letter mirrors similar demands sent to California before the Trump administration sued.

Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs fired back Wednesday, tearing into the U.S. attorneys for making the request so close to Election Day and calling the timing "profoundly disappointing."

• Hobbs said a preliminary investigation confirmed that the federal list includes U.S. citizens and is unreliable. He asked prosecutors to provide individualized proof of ineligibility.

North Carolina

Nearly 4,000 mail-in ballots, or about 6%, processed in North Carolina through Oct. 24 have been flagged for problems that, if not fixed, could invalidate voters' choices.

• Time is running out for those voters to address the issues, and hundreds have yet to respond to notifications about their ballots.

The rejections appear to stem in part from new guidance issued by the GOP-controlled state Board of Elections requiring the inner ballot envelope to be sealed, even if the outer envelope is already sealed.

Alaska

In Alaska's Senate race, two men named Dan Sullivan are on the ballot, Sen. Dan S. Sullivan and retired teacher Dan J. Sullivan.

• New reporting from The New York Times on Wednesday alleged that aides to Democratic candidate Mary Peltola helped recruit the other Dan Sullivan in an apparent attempt to confuse voters and siphon votes away from the incumbent senator. Peltola's campaign denies any involvement.
• Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy ordered an investigation Wednesday for investigators to determine whether the alleged scheme violated Alaska law and whether criminal charges or civil action are warranted.
• The DOJ has separately sued to delay certification of the Senate election if the incumbent loses and votes for the other Sullivan could have changed the outcome.

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