Dan Sullivan

Alaska House members issued a rare legislative demand for evidence over the weekend seeking information on the state Division of Elections’ decision to remove the name of a namesake challenger to U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan from the August primary ballot.

House Judiciary Committee Chair Andrew Gray, an Anchorage Democrat, delivered the subpoena on Sunday to Division of Elections Director Carol Beecher, ahead of a committee hearing scheduled Monday afternoon.

The subpoena was then rescinded, Gray said, after the office of Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom — who oversees Alaska elections — said the division would sue the Legislature to halt the subpoena unless the hearing was delayed to July 20.

Gray scheduled the Monday committee hearing after the Division of Elections earlier this month removed the name of Dan J. Sullivan, a retired teacher from Petersburg, from the primary ballot for Alaska’s U.S. Senate race.

Beecher had previously told Gray that she was not available to attend the hearing, nor would she make any other staffers in the division available to present to the committee.

Beecher, a Republican, removed the candidate’s name in response to complaints from the Alaska Republican Party and the National Republican Senatorial Committee, who argued that the Petersburg Sullivan was attempting to thwart the candidacy of the Republican incumbent who shares the same name.

Alaska’s U.S. Senate race is one of a few high-profile contests that could determine control of the chamber after the midterm elections. The incumbent Sullivan’s most high-profile challenger is Democratic former U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola.

A total of 15 candidates are set to appear on the Aug. 18 primary ballot, which must be certified and sent to the printer on Saturday.

The Division of Elections indicated that the Petersburg Sullivan could challenge the decision to remove him from the ballot in court, but he had yet to indicate he planned to do so as of Monday morning.

Numerous state lawmakers have decried the Division of Elections decision and said it should be reversed in court, based on an analysis from a nonpartisan legislative attorney.

Alaska and federal courts have repeatedly determined that the bar for removing a candidate from the ballot is high. An Alaska Supreme Court case in 2024 affirmed that even a person incarcerated in New York State who had never been to Alaska had the right to run for Alaska’s U.S. House seat.

After legislative attorneys determined last week that Beecher’s actions may have violated state and federal law, leaders of the House took the unusual step of summoning Beecher to appear before a joint hearing of the House Judiciary and State Affairs committees.

Alaska law allows lawmakers to subpoena witnesses to appear before the Legislature. But it’s a step that lawmakers seldom take.

“Subpoenas are fairly rarely issued by the Legislature, so it’s a high bar to get the speaker of the House to agree to it. It’s a high bar to get your members to agree to it, so it required some negotiation and some politicking,” Gray said Monday.

The subpoena was signed by House Speaker Bryce Edgmon, I-Dillingham; House State Affairs Committee Chair Ashley Carrick, D-Fairbanks; and committee members Andi Story, D-Juneau; Rebecca Himschoot, I-Sitka; and Ky Holland, I-Anchorage. None of the Republican minority members of the committee signed the subpoena.

The summons also requests a series of documents and communications, including those “relied upon by the Division as part of its investigation” of the Petersburg Sullivan. Gray said he expects that those documents will be produced by July 20, ahead of a newly scheduled in-person hearing on July 22.

The House Judiciary and State Affairs committees are still scheduled to meet Monday at 1 p.m. at the Anchorage Legislative Information Office to discuss the eligibility criteria for candidates to appear on Alaska’s ballot.