Dan Sullivan

Dan Sullivan and Julie Fate Sullivan married in her hometown of Fairbanks in 1994 and have three daughters, Meghan, Isabella and Laurel.¹² Born in Ohio, he studied economics at Harvard and earned law and foreign service degrees at Georgetown before building a career that combined legal work, military service and Alaska government.²

Sullivan served 30 years in the Marine Corps and Reserve, retiring as a colonel in February 2024.¹ A 2004 recall to active duty took him into work across the Middle East, the Horn of Africa and Central Asia, and he returned to active service with a joint task force in Afghanistan in 2013.¹ His assignments included leading a mortar platoon and commanding a company in an antiterrorism battalion.¹ His civilian work included judicial clerkships, service in the George W. Bush administration and terms as Alaska's attorney general and natural resources commissioner.¹

In the Senate since 2015, Sullivan has concentrated on national defense, resource development and fisheries.¹³ His 2026 Bycatch Reduction Act cleared the Commerce Committee in September, proposing stronger monitoring, improved gear and research on salmon migrations, including technology intended to keep trawl nets off the seafloor.⁴

He is seeking a third term against Democrat Mary Peltola while emphasizing expanded Alaska energy production and his legislative work for fishing communities.⁵³ Both candidates say bycatch must be reduced, but they differ over how far to restrict the trawling industry and how federal policy should support fishing communities.³