Dan Sullivan, the former Alaska Attorney General and commissioner of the Department of Natural Resources, won the Alaska Republican primary for U.S. Senate on Tuesday and will challenge Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska) for his seat in November.
Sullivan defeated his Republican opponents, Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell and tea party favorite Joe Miller, earning 40 percent of the vote, The Associated Press reported.
Sullivan was the favorite to win the race, and Huffpost Pollster showed him leading Treadwell and Miller by 9.6 and 19 percentage points respectively going into Tuesday's primary. Begich has already been campaigning as if he was running against Sullivan, and already released a television ad directly attacking Sullivan.
Begich currently enjoys a slight lead over Sullivan, according to Huffpost Pollster.
Sullivan was boosted by contributions from the Super PAC Alaska’s Energy-America’s Values, which raised much of its money from Sullivan’s family. Sullivan raised four times as much money as Treadwell, AP reported earlier this month.
Miller received last minute high-profile endorsements from former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R), which ultimately failed to help him in his bid to earn the GOP nomination. Miller defeated Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) in a Republican primary in 2010, but then lost to Murkowski in the general election after she launched a write-in campaign.
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