The 2026 United States Senate election in Alaska will be held on November 3, 2026, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the state of Alaska. Republican incumbent Dan S. Sullivan is seeking a third term. He is being challenged by Democratic former congresswoman Mary Peltola. The election will be conducted under ranked-choice voting.
A nonpartisan primary election was held on August 18 to determine the four candidates in the general election. Peltola and Sullivan were the first to advance with 49.5% and 41.4% of the vote respectively, followed by Republican former U.S. Forest Service employee Daniel J. Sullivan and Republican perennial candidate Gerald Heikes.
Democrats have not won a Senate election in Alaska since 2008.
Candidates Republican Party Advanced to general Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. former U.S. Forest Service employee (no relation to the incumbent) Dan S. Sullivan, incumbent U.S. senator Gerald L. Heikes, bassist and perennial candidate
Eliminated in primary Dustin Darden, perennial candidate Fred C. Grauberger, retired motor vehicle operator Richard Benedict Mayers, white supremacist and perennial candidate Heather McElwain, editor
Withdrawn Christopher Miklos, businessman
Democratic Party Advanced to general Mary Peltola, former U.S. representative from Alaska's at-large congressional district (2022–2025)
Withdrew after advancing to general David Leslie, LGBTQ+ activist
Eliminated in primary Carol Hafner, former flight attendant and perennial candidate
Withdrawn Ann Diener, sales executive at the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner William Lee Hunt, former Fairbanks District Attorney's Office Administrative Clerk and independent candidate for President in 2024 and 2028 (running for Alaska state senate)
Libertarian Party Eliminated in primary Scott Kohlhaas, consultant
Green Party Eliminated in primary Richard Grayson, author and perennial candidate
Alaskan Party Eliminated in primary Earl D. "Skip" Southworth, former Unalaska city councilor
Independents Eliminated in primary Sidney "Sid" Hill, political gadfly and candidate for U.S. Senate in 2014 and 2022 Reece J. Roberts, paramedic Shirley Saucerman, medical doctor
Primary election Under Alaska's voting system, all candidates, regardless of party, run on the same primary ballot. The top four candidates in the primary advance to the general election, which is then conducted using ranked-choice voting.
Background Incumbent Republican Dan Sullivan announced his run for re-election in early 2025. He was first elected in 2014, defeating Mark Begich, the most recent Democrat to represent Alaska in the U.S. Senate. He was last re-elected in 2020, prior to the implementation of Alaska's ranked-choice voting system. Facing few obvious swing state targets to regain the Senate majority in 2026, Democrats began looking towards more Republican-leaning states, such as Ohio and Texas, as potential targets. Among these states was Alaska, where Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer heavily courted former U.S. Representative Mary Peltola, the last Democrat to win any statewide election in Alaska, to run for Senate. Peltola narrowly lost her congressional seat in 2024, and had considered running for either Senate or governor, but she ultimately decided to enter the Senate race in early 2026, setting up the race between her and Sullivan.
Daniel James Sullivan Daniel James Sullivan Jr. (born June 1957) is a retired teacher and United States Forest Service employee from Petersburg, Alaska, who filed to run as a Republican three days before the filing deadline. In an interview with the Petersburg Pilot, Sullivan stated that he had been considering running against the incumbent U.S. Senator for 12 years, and remarked that he finally decided to run after the Senator's lack of opposition to the Anti-Weaponization Fund. Senator Sullivan said this was "an effort to confuse Alaskans" and "dirty politics" by Democrats, calling Dan J. Sullivan a "sham candidate". This was denied by Dan J. Sullivan, who called himself a "pragmatic Republican centrist". It was also denied by Mary Peltola's campaign, the Alaska Democratic Party, and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Senator Sullivan threatened legal action if the Lieutenant Governor of Alaska did not remove Dan J. Sullivan from the ballot.
Dan J. Sullivan grew up in the Chicago metropolitan area, and has lived in Southeast Alaska since 1980. He worked for the United States Forest Service in his early career before beginning a career as an elementary school teacher. Sullivan taught in elementary schools for over 20 years before retiring. He was appointed to the city of Petersburg's Public Safety Advisory Board in December 2021. He served in that position until October 2022. He stated that he was a member of the Alaskan Independence Party from when he moved to Alaska in 1980 until the party's dissolution in late 2025.
Sullivan's initial campaign announcement stated that he was "focused on unseating the incumbent, putting Alaska first, and restoring accountability, common sense, and public service to Washington, D.C." He later described his political philosophy as "a pragmatic Republican centrist" similar to Lisa Murkowski, with influence from Rand Paul. Incumbent U.S. Senator Daniel Scott Sullivan argued in an early June 2026 interview with CNN that "[Daniel James Sullivan's] whole purpose of running is to confuse Alaskans, to make him, make them think – Alaskan voters – that somehow he’s me, so they could rig the vote in favor of Mary Peltola." An analysis of Federal Election Commission records by KTUU-TV showed that he had donated to Peltola's previous campaigns, including $100 in 2022 and $30 in 2024. KTUU reported that "That financial history is the extent of the documented link between the Petersburg Sullivan and the Peltola campaign." His initial press release and website design were supported by political strategist Amber Lee, who has previously worked with Democratic campaigns in Alaska. Lee has publicly spoken in favor of Peltola's candidacy, including in a January 2026 interview with The Hill.
The Wall Street Journal reported that weeks before the election, polls showed that approximately one third of voters likely to vote in the primary election could not distinguish the two candidates. Dan J. Sullivan's candidacy was the subject of legal debate, which is expected to advance to the Alaska Supreme Court. In its initial response to Sullivan's candidacy filing, the Alaska Division of Elections stated that Sullivan's name would appear on the ballot as "Sullivan, Dan J. (Registered Republican)."
An Alaskan election official ordered Sullivan's name removed from the ballot, as his candidacy "was not filed in order to declare an actual good-faith candidacy for the office of United States Senator, but was instead filed with a purpose to confuse or mislead and to thereby compromise the ballot’s fairness or neutrality", a decision he appealed. https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/5936869-dan-sullivan-ballot-challenge Anchorage Superior Court judge Thomas A. Matthews reversed the Division of Elections' decision to exclude Sullivan from the primary ballot on June 26. Matthews' decision ruled that the "good-faith" standard for ballot access was not supported by Alaska law, the Division of Elections' regulations, or Article One, Section 3 of the United States Constitution. On July 2nd the Alaska Supreme Court affirmed the decision, ordering Sullivan's name to be listed on the August 18th primary ballot. The Division of Elections released a sample ballot that will distinguish between the two Sullivans by listing Dan J. Sullivan as "Sullivan, Daniel J. Jr." and no party affiliation (despite Sullivan filing as a Republican) and identifying Dan S. Sullivan as the incumbent, which the DoE had not done for any other incumbent for at least 10 years.
Daniel James Sullivan and Daniel Scott Sullivan are also unrelated to each other, and unrelated to former Anchorage mayor Daniel Albert Sullivan.
Campaign Peltola's entry into the race immediately made the race competitive, according to most predictors. She still faces significant hurdles, such as Sullivan's incumbency and lack of a prominent Republican challenger, the unpopularity of the national Democratic Party in Alaska, and a reduction in cross-party support. Lisa Murkowski, Alaska's other U.S. Senator and a noted moderate Republican, had endorsed Peltola in her 2022 and 2024 bids for U.S. House, but she endorsed Sullivan in this race instead. However, as Trump's unpopularity grew, especially amidst the 2026 Iran war, Peltola's chances of flipping the Senate seat grew.
Over the course of the primary campaign, a super PAC called Fair Deal Alaska registered to a virtual office address in Wasilla spent around $770,000 promoting Green Party candidate Richard Grayson and Democrat Carol Hafner in what the Alaska Beacon and the Anchorage Daily News described as an apparent attempt to dilute support for Peltola in the general election. Another PAC called American Democracy Project spent over $240,000 to promote Democrat David Leslie. A similar group called Right for Alaska spent $1.2 million promoting Republican Gerald Heikes and Alaskan Party candidate Earl "Skip" Southworth, who were considered more likely to draw support from Dan S. Sullivan.
Both Grayson and Leslie expressed concern about the outside spending on their behalf to the Anchorage Daily News. Grayson—a satirical candidate living in Arizona—said that he supported Peltola and pledged to withdraw if he advanced to the general election.
Endorsements
Fundraising Campaign finance reports as of July 29, 2026CandidateRaisedSpentCash on handDan S. Sullivan (R)$11,735,898$5,172,572$7,295,069Mary Peltola (D)$18,545,132$13,908,377$4,636,755Source: Federal Election Commission
Polling Poll source Date(s)administered Samplesize Marginof error AnnDiener(D) FredGrauberger(R) RichardGrayson(G) SidHill(I) WilliamHunt(D) ChristopherMiklos(R) MaryPeltola(D) JamesRyan(R) Dan S.Sullivan(R) Undecided June 1, 2026 Hunt withdraws from the race April 21, 2026 Diener withdraws from the race April 10, 2026 Miklos withdraws from the raceAlaska Survey ResearchMarch 19–22, 20261,283 (LV)± 3.0%2%1%1%3%1%2%46%3%41%
Results The Associated Press has projected that Mary Peltola, Dan S. Sullivan, Daniel J. Sullivan, and Gerald Heikes will advance to the general election.
General election Campaign Democratic candidate David Leslie placed fourth in the primary. Leslie, a democratic socialist who had criticized Peltola's stances on the Gaza genocide, environmental protection, and actions by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), initially said he would not withdraw but later reversed course, citing "pressure from not just the Alaska Democratic leadership, but many different institutions of power".
Leslie's withdrawal allowed Republican perennial candidate Gerald Heikes to advance to the general election.