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Politics58 outlets ran this3 min read

Former Mayor Endorses Senator in Alaska's Dan Sullivan Senate Race

Two candidates share the name Dan Sullivan, leading to confusion in the closely watched Alaska Senate contest.

AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made

Published Updated
Dan Sullivan Backs Dan Sullivan Over Dan Sullivan in Alaska Race

What this story says

  • Former Anchorage Mayor Dan A. Sullivan endorsed incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan, calling himself the 'OG Dan Sullivan'.
  • The Alaska Senate race features two candidates named Dan Sullivan, creating voter confusion.
  • GOP critics have labelled the other candidate, retired teacher Dan J. Sullivan, 'Decoy Dan' and suggested he is a Democratic plant.
  • Incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan trails challenger Mary Peltola by 5.4 percentage points in the latest vote tally.

Who covered it

Left 36%(16)Centre 20%(9)Right 44%(20)

Percentages are shares of the 45 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. 13 of the 58 outlets we know ran this story carry no rating and are not counted in them. Coverage measured .

Trust

60/100

Craft

70/100

Hype

45/100

58 sources · methodology

Missing from the right

Only 20 of the 45 outlets with a published leaning rating that ran this story are rated right.

A reader who follows the right would not have seen this. We report the absence rather than explain it: outlets choose what to cover for many reasons, and we have no evidence about which one applies here.

The Alaska Senate race has become complicated by the presence of two candidates named Dan Sullivan. Former Anchorage Mayor Dan A. Sullivan has publicly endorsed the incumbent, Sen. Dan Sullivan, identifying himself as the 'OG Dan Sullivan' in a Facebook post. This endorsement gained wider attention after being spotlighted on social media. The incumbent senator is facing a challenge from Mary Peltola, who currently leads him by 5.4 percentage points in the latest vote count from the state's open primary. The other candidate, identified as retired teacher Dan J. Sullivan, is also projected to advance to the general election.

Disagreement over candidate status

Internewscast and New York Post report that the other Dan Sullivan, retired teacher Dan J. Sullivan, appears poised to make the cut for the general election, though they note that outlets have refrained from calling it due to outstanding votes. The New York Times Post, Democratic Accent, wfmd.com, and Fox News digests identify Dan J. Sullivan Jr. as an independent candidate and do not mention his projected advancement to the general election.

What the coverage left out

None of the right-rated reports below mention that the Justice Department reportedly secured grand jury subpoenas to investigate retired teacher Dan J. Sullivan.

Tags:#AlaskaPolitics#SenateRace#ElectionConfusion#VoterEducation

Coverage settled. We checked this 35 times and stopped on 28 Aug 2026, 18:45. The figures above are what it finished at.

How each side covered it

Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.

Left

16 rated outlets

  • The six left‑rated outlets each ran a digest that reported a former Anchorage mayor, identified as a third Dan Sullivan, publicly supporting Senator Dan S. Sullivan against former teacher Dan J. Sullivan in the Alaska Senate contest. All six led on the endorsement itself and the identities of the three candidates.
  • Each digest’s headline described the race as perplexing or bizarre, signalling that the outlets highlighted the unusual circumstance of multiple candidates sharing the same name. The repeated phrasing in the headlines underscored the reporters’ focus on the confusing nature of the contest rather than substantive issues.
  • None of the left‑rated digests mention policy positions, campaign financing, or voter‑turnout projections for either candidate. The coverage is limited to the endorsement and the race’s confusing label, leaving those substantive details absent from all six reports.

Centre

9 rated outlets

  • Reports from centre-rated outlets led on the endorsement of incumbent Senator Dan S. Sullivan by former Anchorage Mayor Dan A. Sullivan. The former mayor stated he was the "OG Dan Sullivan" and urged Alaskans to vote for the senator.
  • The centre-rated reports noted the unusual situation of three men named Dan Sullivan in the Alaska Senate race. They identified the incumbent as Senator Dan S. Sullivan and the challenger as retired teacher Dan J. Sullivan.
  • The digests mentioned that the retired teacher, dubbed "Decoy Dan" by critics, had voted for Democratic presidential candidates. Some reports noted the Justice Department had reportedly secured grand jury subpoenas to investigate him.

Right

20 rated outlets

  • The right-rated reports focused on the confusion surrounding the multiple Dan Sullivans in the Alaska Senate race. The New York Post's full report mirrored Internewscast's account of former Mayor Dan A. Sullivan endorsing incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan, calling the situation 'bonkers'. The digests from New York Times Post, Democratic Accent, wfmd.com, and Fox News all used similar headlines, emphasising Republicans scrambling to educate voters about a suspected Democratic plant. These digests quoted Alaska state Sen. James Kaufman expressing worry about voter confusion and the shrinking window to clarify the situation. They identified Dan J. Sullivan Jr. as an independent candidate.

Questions about this coverage

How did the left and right cover Former Mayor Endorses Senator in Alaska's Dan Sullivan Senate Race?
Of the 45 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 36% are rated left, 20% are rated centre, 44% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it, which was 58. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.
Is Former Mayor Endorses Senator in Alaska's Dan Sullivan Senate Race left or right?
Neither side dominates it. Of the 45 rated outlets on this story, 36% are rated left, 20% are rated centre, 44% are rated right, and no side holds the 70% this site would want before calling a field one-sided. A story is not left or right in any case; the outlets that carried it are what carry ratings.
Is the coverage of Former Mayor Endorses Senator in Alaska's Dan Sullivan Senate Race biased?
Former Mayor Endorses Senator in Alaska's Dan Sullivan Senate Race is one event reported by 58 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
Which side is not reporting Former Mayor Endorses Senator in Alaska's Dan Sullivan Senate Race?
When we first saw this story, outlets rated right had barely covered it. Coverage accretes for hours after an event, so that is where to look rather than a verdict — the split above is the current count, and it is the one to read.
Which outlets covered Former Mayor Endorses Senator in Alaska's Dan Sullivan Senate Race?
58 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.
Why is the Alaska Senate race unusual?
The Alaska Senate race is unusual because two candidates share the same name: Dan Sullivan. This has led to confusion among voters, with former Anchorage Mayor Dan A. Sullivan endorsing incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan and calling himself the 'OG Dan Sullivan' to help differentiate.
Who is running against Sen. Dan Sullivan?
Incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan is running against Mary Peltola, who currently holds a 5.4-percentage-point lead in the latest vote tally. Another candidate named Dan J. Sullivan is also in the race, leading to confusion.
What are the accusations against Dan J. Sullivan?
GOP critics have labelled Dan J. Sullivan, a retired teacher, as 'Decoy Dan' and accused him of being a Democratic plant. They suggest his intention is to confuse voters in the competitive race due to his shared name with the incumbent senator.

Read it at the source

64 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.

Left

16
Show 8 more

Centre

10
Show 2 more

Right

25
Show 17 more

Not rated

13
Show 5 more

How did this read?

About the coverage, not about the story. We do not ask whether you agree with what happened — we have no honest use for that answer.

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