The unrig-the-system candidate in Alaska tried to rig the election

One of the strangest controversies of the 2026 election cycle has been playing out in Alaska, where Democrats have been exposed for recruiting a man named Dan Sullivan — he shares a first and last name with the incumbent GOP senator — to run for that seat as another “Republican.”

In the state’s unusual top-four, ranked choice voting system, the impostor Dan Sullivan is among the quartet of candidates on the ballot in that race. Many political observers simply assumed that Democrats played some role in getting the second Sullivan into the mix as a means of confusing voters, which could give a marginal edge to Democrat Mary Peltola. After all, in a very tight contest, marginal shifts could prove decisive.