Dan J. Sullivan of Petersburg said he’s staying in the race for U.S. Senate, for now.
The retired teacher faced off against Alaska’s incumbent Republican senator with the same name and party affiliation in last Tuesday’s primary election.
“I don’t have any plans on withdrawing at the moment,” Sullivan said during a phone call with KFSK. “But I still do have a few days just for a final decision in case something should come up between now and then.”
The deadline for candidates to withdraw from the general election is Aug. 31. That’s the same day the state plans to certify the primary election.
The top four vote-getters in the primary will proceed to the November general election. As of Wednesday morning, Sullivan had 3,829 votes. It’s a fraction of the 65,468 votes that Senator Dan S. Sullivan received so far, but it’s enough to keep the candidate in third place.
Sullivan’s home district of Petersburg favored Democrat Mary Peltola in the primary, followed by Senator Sullivan. Petersburg Sullivan received 66 votes locally at the polls, or 12% of the vote, on the day of the primary.
Since announcing his candidacy in May, Dan J. Sullivan has been repeatedly accused of running to confuse voters. In June, the Division of Elections tried to remove him from the ballot, claiming he ran dishonestly. The debate went all the way to the Alaska Supreme Court, which said the candidate had to be returned to the ballot.
Dan J. Sullivan said the votes suggest Alaskans could tell the two candidates apart.
“I’ve been looking at a lot of the voter data and following some of the real data wonks who really get into it, and I feel pretty vindicated that it seems to prove that there was very little, if any, voter confusion between the senator and myself,” he said.
On the day of the primary, NBC News reported that the U.S. Department of Justice was issuing subpoenas in an investigation into whether Sullivan violated federal law during his run. Their sources were anonymous.
“For those who have been following the mystery stories of DOJ investigations and subpoenas, at this point, I have heard nothing or received any notification of anything of the sort,” Sullivan said. “So it’s as much a mystery to me as it is to everyone else.”
The Alaska Beacon first reported that the Division of Elections, the Alaska Democratic Party, Mary Peltola’s campaign, and a consultant who worked with Sullivan had not received subpoenas either.
Sullivan says he’s going to continue running his campaign the way he has, and will continue to share his views online and in interviews.
