Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan's New Challenge: Dan Sullivan

GOP Sen. Dan Sullivan of Alaska already had a challenging reelection fight on his hands with the entry of former Democratic congresswoman Mary Peltola into the race. But first comes a more unusual problem: a candidate with a nearly identical name. It seems that Dan J. Sullivan, a former schoolteacher and bartender from the small town of Petersburg, just launched his own campaign ahead of the state's bipartisan primary on August 18, reports Alaska News Source. The senator, for the record, is Dan S. Sullivan.

"It's going to be confusing," Gary Stevens, the Republican president of the Alaska Senate, tells the New York Times. Though some in the GOP accuse the new Sullivan of being part of a Democratic ploy to siphon votes from the incumbent, Stevens is skeptical. Alaska just happens to have a lot of Dan Sullivans, he notes, including a former mayor of Anchorage. The new Sullivan is a registered Republican, reports the Anchorage Daily News, which adds that the challenger's election paperwork doesn't appear to be complete yet. The top four vote-getters advance to the general election, regardless of party.