2026-08-23T10:00:51-04:00 / 福克斯新闻频道
前民主党国会众议员玛丽·佩尔托拉领跑初选，小丹·沙利文分流了2.3%的共和党支持者
作者：利奥·布里塞尼奥 福克斯新闻
发布于2026年8月23日 美国东部时间上午10:00
共和党参议员称，尽管遭指认存在干预行为，他仍准备在阿拉斯加联邦参议员选举中击败民主党对手
阿拉斯加州共和党参议员丹·沙利文在“无情”播客中表示，尽管民主党据称招募了另一位名叫丹·沙利文的候选人参选，他仍准备击败民主党人玛丽·佩尔托拉。
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除了应对民主党挑战者，阿拉斯加州共和党参议员丹·沙利文还在应对与他同名的独立候选人小丹·J·沙利文引发的混乱，且澄清此事的时间窗口正在缩小。
阿拉斯加州参议员、共和党人詹姆斯·考夫曼表示，他本人仍担心选民会混淆两位沙利文。
“至少有一位选民告诉我，他们不得不放慢速度，确保不会投错票。我可以想象那些不太关注政治的人——我认为这确实会造成困惑，”考夫曼说道。
周二的选举结果似乎印证了他的猜测。
小沙利文的竞选活动主打他伐木工的背景，确实分流了现任共和党候选人的部分初选支持，但份额不足以让初选领跑者的身份变得模糊。如今问题变成，鉴于阿拉斯加采用排序选择投票制、选民规模更大且共和党有更多时间提醒选民警惕两位同名沙利文，这位“撞名”沙利文是否会在11月的大选中产生成比例的影响。
【专题报道】阿拉斯加“真正的”参议员丹·沙利文直面挑战者
2026年6月26日，申请参选阿拉斯加联邦参议员的小丹·J·沙利文在阿拉斯加彼得斯堡留影。（凯蒂·霍姆伦德/美联社）
前国会众议员玛丽·佩尔托拉在周二的初选中以5.4%的优势遥遥领先，击败了沙利文参议员。
值得注意的是，即便小沙利文获得的2.3%选票全部投向现任参议员，也无法完全缩小两者的差距。
即便如此，2000年至2013年担任共和党主席的兰迪·鲁德里奇仍认为，这种混淆效应显而易见。
作为该州居民，他指出阿拉斯加州唯一的联邦众议员、共和党人尼克·贝吉奇在自己的初选中获得的支持，与角逐参议院席位的前三大非民主党候选人——沙利文参议员、小沙利文和退伍军人杰拉尔德·海克斯——的总得票不相上下。
“尼克·贝吉奇没有这些‘噱头’，就拿到了60061张选票。共和党选民投给贝吉奇的票数略少于这三位共和党候选人的总票数，”鲁德里奇说道。
“存在明显的跨党派投票。”
鲁德里奇指出，阿拉斯加此前也曾遭遇过选民姓名混淆的问题。他回忆称，2022年，鲜为人知的巴兹·凯利晋级大选，因为大量选民将他与共和党联邦参议员候选人凯利·齐巴卡混淆。当时齐巴卡竞选时仅使用名字“凯利”，实际上造成了两位“凯利”候选人的局面。
“当时有位女性参选，她只用名字作为标识，因为她的姓氏太难念了，”鲁德里奇回忆道，“我们过去也曾出现过身份识别和混淆的问题。”
鲁德里奇认为，试图搅乱选举局势的行为不止小沙利文的竞选活动。他指出，今年的情况有所不同，周二初选中支持率排名第三的海克斯——阿拉斯加政坛的熟面孔——背后有异常动向。
“我为什么要提到海克斯？他是个常年参选的候选人，之前多次参选，但一直没有资金支持，”鲁德里奇说道。
【法官裁定：与参议员丹·沙利文同名的共和党候选人可留在阿拉斯加初选选票上】
2022年10月26日，民主党众议员玛丽·佩尔托拉在阿拉斯加州安克雷奇举行的阿拉斯加州唯一联邦众议院席位辩论前留影。（美联社照片/马克·蒂森）
“今年，他获得了马萨诸塞州一位自由派人士数十万美元的巨额捐款，这位人士资助这位极端保守派共和党人，还投放广告称丹·沙利文并不支持生命权，而是支持堕胎权。”
海克斯得到了“为阿拉斯加权利”等组织的支持，这些组织已投入约120万美元用于反对沙利文参议员，同时投入41万美元支持海克斯。
由于选举结果尚未最终敲定，目前尚不清楚海克斯能否晋级大选。
阿拉斯加的前四名全党派初选与大选的一个显著区别是，大选将采用排序选择投票制。
根据该制度，选民可为偏好的候选人排名。如果他们的首选候选人被淘汰，其支持票将转移给他们排名次选的候选人。尽管该制度的支持者认为它扩大了选民的权力，大幅提升了原本可能并非首选的候选人的影响力，但批评者认为它也会引发困惑。
考夫曼担心，有些选民不会费心在选票上为两位“沙利文”都排名，以确保自己的选票有效。
他认为，阿拉斯加仍有部分选民，尤其是共和党选民，拒绝使用该制度，称他们不同意该制度的实施方式。
“有些人秉持非常传统的观点：一人一票，”考夫曼说道。
“因此会出现投票疲劳，有些人干脆不进行排名，可能是因为他们反对该制度；这里有相当一部分选民明确反对我们采用的排序选择投票制，他们并不认为有必要使用这套制度。”
考夫曼和鲁德里奇都不清楚小沙利文的竞选活动会在11月的大选中造成多大程度的混乱，但他们指出，共和党很可能会在竞选剩余的几个月里重点强调这一问题。
【同名候选人因被指民主党策划搅乱选举被取消关键选区参选资格】
2026年6月17日，阿拉斯加州共和党参议员丹·沙利文在华盛顿特区美国国会大厦的参议院地铁通道内留影。（丹尼尔·霍尔/彭博社）
“这件事已经有了一些博客和社交媒体报道，”鲁德里奇说道。
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“我预计相关宣传会大幅增加，让更多人了解问题的本质，”他补充道。
从支持率的分布来看，小沙利文最主要的支持来自他的家乡彼得斯堡的库普雷诺夫选区。在那里，他获得66票，而沙利文参议员获得213票，约占现任参议员支持率的33%。
小沙利文的竞选团队未立即回应置评请求。
利奥·布里塞尼奥是福克斯新闻数字频道国会团队的政治记者，此前曾在《世界杂志》担任记者。
Alaska Republicans scramble to educate voters on suspected Dem plant as ‘ballot fatigue’ threatens race
2026-08-23T10:00:51-04:00 / Fox News
Former Dem Congresswoman Mary Peltola led the primary field as Sullivan Jr splintered 2.3% of Republican support
By Leo Briceno Fox News
Published August 23, 2026 10:00am EDT
GOP senator says he’s prepared to take down Democrat in Alaska Senate race despite alleged interference efforts
Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, told the “Ruthless” podcast that he’s prepared to beat Democrat Mary Peltola, despite the Democratic Party allegedly recruiting another candidate named Dan Sullivan to put on the ballot.
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In addition to fending off a Democratic challenger, Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, is wrestling against confusion caused by a candidate who shares his name — Dan J. Sullivan Jr., an independent — and a shrinking window to clear it up.
Alaska state Sen. James Kaufman, a Republican, said he personally remains worried about conflation between the two.
“I’ve had at least one person say they had to slow down to make sure they didn’t make a mistake. And I can only imagine people who are less engaged in politics — I think it can be confusing,” Kaufman said.
Results on Tuesday seem to confirm his hunch.
Sullivan Jr.’s campaign, which has focused on his background as a logger, has meaningfully splintered support from the incumbent Republican candidate in the primary — but not enough to create ambiguity about who the frontrunner was in the primary. Now, the question becomes whether the Sullivan look-alike will have a proportional impact in November, given Alaska’s ranked choice voting system, a larger pool of voters and more time for Republicans to warn voters about the dueling Sullivans.
MORNING GLORY: ALASKA’S ‘REAL’ SENATOR DAN SULLIVAN STOOD UP OVER CHALLENGER
Dan J. Sullivan, who has filed to run for U.S. Senate in Alaska, poses for a photo in Petersburg, Alaska, on June 26, 2026.(Katie Holmlund/Associated Press)
Former Congresswoman Mary Peltola convincingly led the field on Tuesday, beating out Sen. Sullivan by a 5.4% lead.
Notably, the votes that went to Sullivan Jr. wouldn’t have closed the gap entirely had they been cast for the senator, having received just 2.3%.
Even so, Randy Ruedrich, Republican Party chairman from 2000-2013, believes the confusion is evident.
As a state resident, he pointed out that Alaska’s lone congressman, Rep. Nick Begich, R-Alaska, had received as much support in his own primary as the top non-Democrats vying for the Senate seat: Sen. Sullivan, Sullivan Jr. and Gerald Heikes, a veteran.
“Nick Begich, without all this entertainment, has 60,061 votes. Nick Begich has slightly less Republican votes than these three Republicans together,” Ruedrich said.
“There is some obvious crossover.”
Ruedrich noted that Alaska has grappled with voter name confusion before. He recalled that, in 2022, little-known Buzz Kelly advanced to a general election when enough voters confused him with Republican Senate candidate Kelly Tshibaka. Tshibaka had been campaigning using just her first name, effectively creating two “Kelly” candidates.
“We had a lady running who was using her first name to identify herself because her last name is a nightmare,” Ruedrich recalled. “We’ve had identity issues and confusion in the past.”
Ruedrich believes that attempts to muddy the waters also go beyond just Sullivan Jr.’s campaign. He pointed out that this year looks different for Heikes — the Republican with the third-most support on Tuesday and a familiar face in Alaska politics.
“Now, why am I bringing up Heikes? He is a perennial candidate. He has run a number of times, but he’s always been unfunded,” Ruedrich said.
JUDGE RULES REPUBLICAN WITH SAME NAME AS SEN DAN SULLIVAN CAN STAY ON ALASKA PRIMARY BALLOT
Rep. Mary Peltola, a Democrat, is shown before a debate for Alaska’s sole U.S. House seat on Oct. 26, 2022, in Anchorage.(AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)
“This year, he has a significant contribution of hundreds of thousands of dollars from a Massachusetts liberal who is contributing to this ultra-conservative Republican, and they’re running ads saying that Dan Sullivan is not pro-life; he’s pro-abortion.”
Heikes has backing from groups like Right for Alaska, which has put roughly $1.2 million up to oppose Sen. Sullivan and $410,000 to support Heikes.
It remains unclear if Heikes will advance to the general election as election results are not final.
One notable difference between Alaska’s top-four jungle primary and its general election is the implementation of ranked-choice voting in November.
Under this system, voters rank their preferred candidates. If their top choice is eliminated, their support passes on to their next-ranked option. While supporters of the process argue it expands voters’ power and greatly increases the influence of candidates that may not otherwise be a top choice, critics believe it also introduces confusion.
Kaufman fears that some voters won’t bother to fill out both the “Sullivans” on the ballot to cover their bases.
He believes there are still some voters in Alaska, especially Republicans, who refuse to use the system, citing disagreements with its implementation.
“Some people have a pretty strong traditionalist perspective: one person, one man, one vote,” Kaufman said.
“And so, the ballot fatigue where people just don’t rank because maybe they disagree with it; there’s a pretty strong segment of the population here that just patently disagrees with the rank-choice voting system we ended up with. And they don’t necessarily believe in utilizing it.”
Both Kaufman and Ruedrich remain unclear about how much confusion the Sullivan Jr. campaign will add in November, but noted that Republicans will likely make it a focus to highlight the issue in the remaining months of the campaign.
SAME-NAME CANDIDATE DISQUALIFIED FROM KEY SENATE RACE OVER ALLEGED DEM SCHEME TO CONFUSE VOTERS
Sen. Dan Sullivan, a Republican from Alaska, stands in the Senate Subway of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on June 17, 2026.(Daniel Heuer/Bloomberg)
“It has had some blog coverage and some social media coverage,” Ruedrich said.
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“I expect that’s going to go up significantly to get more people to understand what the problem really is,” he added.
In terms of proportionality, Sullivan Jr.’s most notable support came from his hometown, Petersburg Kupreanof. There, he received 66 votes to Sen. Sullivan’s 213 votes — roughly 33% of the incumbent’s support.
Sullivan Jr.’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Leo Briceno is a politics reporter for the congressional team at Fox News Digital. He was previously a reporter with World Magazine.
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