Why Democrats and Republicans Are Backing Rivals in Alaska’s Senate Primary

A burst of ad spending is part of a campaign tactic in which the major parties try to boost fringe hopefuls on the other side.

Voters in Alaska are at the polls Tuesday to choose who will duke it out in one of the most closely watched Senate races this cycle. Sen. Dan Sullivan (R) is on defense as Democrats look to former Rep. Mary Peltola (D) to flip the seat. To further complicate matters, an Alaska Republican — also…

Former Democratic Rep. Peltola and more than a dozen others are on the ballot.

Observers call Peltola, who won the red state’s House seat twice and is running to unseat Dan Sullivan, ‘a unicorn’ Dan J Sullivan is a retired schoolteacher and US Forest Service employee living in the town of Petersburg in south-eastern Alaska, who is running as a Republican for the US Senate. Dan S Sullivan is a Rep