Alaska Republicans scramble to educate voters on suspected Dem plant as 'ballot fatigue' threatens race

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 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, former Republican Party chairman from 2000-2013, believes the confusion is evident.