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
Dan Sullivan Backs Dan Sullivan Over Dan Sullivan in Alaska Race
Photograph: Internewscast (embedded from source)
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
Percentages are shares of the 6 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. Coverage measured .
Trust
60/100
Craft
70/100
Hype
45/100
6 sources · methodology
Thin on the left so far
None of the 6 outlets with a published leaning rating that ran this story are rated left.
This story is still being watched, so it is a count and not yet a finding. Coverage keeps arriving for hours after an event, and a side that has published nothing this morning may publish by tonight. If it is still true when we stop checking, we will say so plainly.
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.
Still developing. We have re-checked which outlets are covering this 3 times, most recently on 23 Aug 2026, 20:00, and will add the sides that appear.
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
0 rated outlets
No outlet rated left has run this story so far. We are still checking, and will say plainly if that does not change.
Centre
1 rated outlet
- Internewscast led with the unusual situation of a politician named Dan Sullivan endorsing another Dan Sullivan over a third Dan Sullivan in the Alaska Senate race. The report detailed the endorsement by former Anchorage Mayor Dan A. Sullivan of incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan, noting the confusion caused by the shared name. It highlighted that Mary Peltola holds a 5.4-percentage-point lead over the incumbent senator in the latest tally. The outlet also reported on GOP critics dubbing retired teacher Dan J. Sullivan 'Decoy Dan' and accusing him of being a Democratic plant, and mentioned the Justice Department reportedly securing grand jury subpoenas to investigate him.
Right
5 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 6 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 0% are rated left, 17% are rated centre, 83% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it. 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?
- Too few of the outlets on this story carry a published leaning rating to say. 6 of them do, and this site does not characterise a field under 12: at that size one newsroom filing moves the share by ten points. The percentages above are the count as it stands.
- 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 6 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 left 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?
- 6 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
6 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
0No outlet in this group ran the story.
Centre
1Right
5- Ex-Mayor Dan Sullivan backs Dan Sullivan to beat Dan Sullivan in bonkers Alaska Senate race (opens New York Post in a new tab)
New York Post — is New York Post biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Alaska Republicans scramble to educate voters on suspected Dem plant as 'ballot fatigue' threatens race - NEW YORK TIMES POST (opens nytimespost.com in a new tab)
nytimespost.com — is nytimespost.com biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Alaska Republicans scramble to educate voters on suspected Dem plant as ‘ballot fatigue’ threatens race (opens wfmd.com in a new tab)
- Alaska Republicans scramble to educate voters on suspected Dem plant as 'ballot fatigue' threatens race – Democratic Accent (opens democraticaccent.com in a new tab)
democraticaccent.com — is democraticaccent.com biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Alaska Republicans scramble to educate voters on suspected Dem plant as 'ballot fatigue' threatens race (opens Fox News in a new tab)
Not rated
0No outlet in this group ran the story.
How did this read?
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