Dan Sullivan is challenging Sen. Dan Sullivan on Alaska's primary ballot

Alaska's Supreme Court ordered that Dan Sullivan, a retired teacher, must be included on the primary ballot for Alaska's U.S. Senate seat. He will challenge Sen. Dan Sullivan in the August primary.

Transcript

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

The Alaska Supreme Court is ordering the name of a retired teacher to remain on the state's primary ballot. Dan Sullivan filed to run as a Republican against Alaska's junior U.S. senator who is also a Republican and also named Dan Sullivan. Alaska Public Media's Liz Ruskin reports.

LIZ RUSKIN, BYLINE: The challenger Dan Sullivan, from the tiny town of Petersburg in southeast Alaska, says he's a genuine candidate running because he's dissatisfied with his two-term senator.

DAN SULLIVAN: The last 12 years, having my representative share my name and continually do a job that, in my opinion, is not what helps people of Alaska, it just sort of hit harder maybe than it hits other people. You just take it a little more personally.

RUSKIN: Senator Sullivan and his allies say the challenger is a sham who is trying to confuse voters and throw the race for the Democratic candidate, Mary Peltola. Peltola and her party say they had nothing to do with the second Sullivan candidacy. In Alaska's August primary, all candidates appear on the same ballot. And the top four of any party advance to the general election. The court left it up to the Division of Elections to decide how the challenger's name will appear on the ballot. The two Sullivans have different middle initials, but the division says that wouldn't be enough to avoid voter confusion. Senator Sullivan campaign spokesman Nate Adams says the court's decision lets an election manipulator on the ballot.

NATE ADAMS: That said, we are encouraged by the fact that the director of the Division of Elections will be able to use her expertise to best differentiate between the Petersburg fraud and the incumbent Senator Dan Sullivan, ultimately to the benefit of all Alaska voters.

RUSKIN: One option election officials have proposed is to strip the challenger of his Republican label. His attorney says that wouldn't be legal.

For NPR News, I'm Liz Ruskin. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.