A Democrat serving a 20-year federal prison sentence has advanced to Alaska's general-election ballot for a second time, renewing scrutiny of an unusual candidate whom the state's Republican Party went to court to help keep on the ballot. Eric Hafner, who has never lived in Alaska, advanced from the state's 2026 U.S. House primary after also making the general-election ballot in 2024.
His candidacy is drawing fresh attention amid the explosive controversy over Alaska's two Dan Sullivans. The episode is resurfacing as Republicans accuse Democrats of helping another unconventional candidate onto an Alaska ballot: Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., a retired teacher who shares a name with incumbent Republican Senator Dan Sullivan.
The circumstances and legal issues are different. But Democrats are pointing to the Hafner case as Republicans, including President Donald Trump, denounce Sullivan Jr.'s candidacy and GOP Governor Mike Dunleavy orders an investigation into whether alleged efforts to recruit candidates into this year's Senate race violated Alaska law. The comparison raises an uncomfortable political question for both sides: When does putting more candidates before voters promote choice, and when does it become an effort to manipulate an election?
Newsweek has reached out to Hafner, the Alaska Republican Party and the campaign of Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Mary Peltola. Hafner is serving a 20-year federal prison sentence after pleading guilty in 2022 to making threatening communications and conveying false information concerning the use of an explosive device.
Federal prosecutors said Hafner threatened elected officials, judges, police officers, attorneys and their families while living outside the United States from 2016 to 2018. Prosecutors said he also made false bomb threats targeting government offices, a courthouse, a police department, law firms and a business. He was sentenced in December 2023 to 240 months in prison and three years of supervised release.
Hafner has disputed his conviction, telling Alaska public radio station KRBD in 2024: "I'm innocent of all charges. I deny all allegations." Alaska was also not his first attempt to win elected office outside his home state. Hafner previously ran for Congress in Hawaii in 2016 as a Republican and Oregon in 2018 as a Democrat.
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