Former Clevelander Dan Sullivan will be Alaska's next U.S. senator, A.P. declares
Dan Sullivan, shown greeting supporters on election night, Nov. 4, in Anchorage, Alaska, as his daughter Meghan looks on at right. Alaska's voters have decided that former Clevelander Dan Sullivan will legitimately represent their interests in the U.S. Senate come January, the Associated Press has determined. Thus ends the "Outsider" (always with a capital "O') trash talk.
This comes a week after Election Day, and Sullivan's opponent, single-term Senate incumbent Mark Begich, has not conceded. Only 7,911 votes separated Sullivan, a Republican, and Begich, a Democrat, as of Tuesday night.
But the Associated Press, which tends to be cautious in these matters, reported that it sees no way for Begich to close the lead that Sullivan has.
Sullivan, a former Marine and longtime Marine reservist, grew up in the Cleveland area and his family heads RPM International, the Medina-based company that makes paint primer and sealers. His wife is Alaskan, and Sullivan calls Alaska home. Sarah Palin appointed him to be Alaska's attorney general when she was governor, and Palin's successor made Sullivan the state's natural resources commissioner.
But Sullivan also spent time in Washington, D.C., and owned a home in suburban Maryland while working for President George W. Bush's administration – as a White House fellow, a staff director for the National Security Council, and ultimately an assistant secretary of state for economic, energy and business affairs.
Democrats tried to use that as part of their campaign to cast Sullivan as a Clevelander, a Washingtonian, a man from cities that cannot understand a place where caribou outnumber people.
And while Sullivan didn't brag to Alaskans about his love for Cleveland, he relied upon his Cleveland ties for fundraising, getting more campaign money from Northeast Ohio than anywhere else, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. When he'd come to Cleveland to raise cash, Democrats or their allies would try to publicize it as a Sullivan homecoming.
But the attacks failed. Unless the A.P. is wrong, Sullivan will take a seat in the Senate in January, the next and legitimate senator from the Last Frontier.
Sullivan said on Facebook, "I am deeply humbled and honored to be chosen by my fellow Alaskans to serve them in the United States Senate. From day one we told our supporters that we would run a campaign that Alaskans could be proud of and that's what we did. But we couldn't do it alone and Julie and I are so grateful for the incredible support and encouragement we received from Alaskans in every corner of our state."
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