Former independent U.S. Senate candidate Al Gross has endorsed his former opponent, Senator Dan Sullivan, in Alaska’s U.S. Senate race. Under the state’s ranked-choice voting system, Gross has urged supporters to rank both Sullivan and a man running with the same name as the incumbent over Democratic Party nominee Mary Peltola.
Gross, an orthopedic surgeon who ran as an independent with the Alaska Democratic Party’s endorsement against Senator Sullivan in 2020, published the endorsement as an opinion column in the Anchorage Daily News on October 15. The column is titled “Why I’m crossing the aisle for either Dan Sullivan.”
“Alaska has never been a state that fits neatly into political boxes. We hunt, we fish, we build lives in conditions that demand pragmatism over ideology. We respect results. We respect backbone. And that is exactly why I — a man who ran against Dan Sullivan as an independent in 2020 — am writing this endorsement of him today,” Gross wrote.
“Alaska needs a Dan Sullivan in the United States Senate. And before you ask, yes, I’m aware there are two of them on the ballot,” he added. The former candidate was speaking in reference to Daniel J. Sullivan, a former Petersburg teacher whose presence on the ballot has sparked much controversy and numerous allegations of misconduct on the part of Democrat political operatives.
In his column, Gross emphasized that either Sullivan is preferable to the Democrat. “A political unknown from Petersburg filed for the U.S. Senate race, sharing the exact same name as our sitting junior senator. The incumbent’s campaign calls it a dirty trick. The Petersburg Sullivan insists he’s serious. What I will say is this: Even if you must squint at the middle initial to figure out which Dan Sullivan you’re voting for, either one still beats the alternative,” the piece reads.
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He did include kind words for Peltola, but ultimately stressed that the race is not a personality contest. “I respect Mary Peltola. She is nice and kind, and her story as the first Alaska Native to serve in Congress is genuinely historic. But a Senate race is not a ceremonial vote. It is a decision about who will fight best for Alaska’s interests in the most powerful deliberative body on Earth and who can keep the seat to consolidate power,” Gross wrote.
He went on to point out numerous issues he has with Peltola’s record, and noted her narrow re-election loss in Alaska’s at-large congressional race in 2022. “It seemed that Mary spent more time getting photo ops at the Department of the Interior with Secretary Deb Haaland than she spent replying to texts and emails sent by constituents. Alaska sent her to Washington to deliver, and Washington delivered her back to us,” the piece continued.
Regarding the Petersburg candidate, whom Gross said he has met and whose family he knows, he wrote that the candidate “is still a committed Republican, and he has demonstrated great leadership skills as a teacher and as a community leader. He’s just as committed to putting Alaska first, and I trust him to do so.”
Gross concluded, “The prescription? Vote Sullivan. Check the middle initial if you really must. But vote for both Sullivans, for all of Alaska.”
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