Dan Sullivan (U.S. senator)

Daniel Scott Sullivan (born November 13, 1964) is an American politician, attorney, and Marine Corps veteran serving as the junior United States senator from the state of Alaska since 2015. A member of the Republican Party, Sullivan previously served as the commissioner of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources from 2010 to 2013, and as the Alaska Attorney General from 2009 to 2010.

Sullivan grew up in a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio and graduated from Culver Academies in Indiana. He studied economics at Harvard University, then earned joint foreign service and Juris Doctor degrees from Georgetown University. He was on active duty for the United States Marine Corps from 1993 to 1997, 2004 to 2006, and in 2009 and 2013.

Between 1997 and 1999, he clerked for judges on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and the Alaska Supreme Court. He worked as an attorney in private practice in Anchorage, Alaska, from 2000 to 2002. Sullivan moved to Washington, DC to work for the Bush administration; he worked with the National Economic Council and the National Security Council and later served as Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs.

Sullivan ran in the 2014 election for the U.S. Senate seat held by Democratic incumbent Mark Begich. In August, he won the Republican primary, defeating Alaska Lieutenant Governor Mead Treadwell and 2010 Senate nominee Joe Miller. Sullivan narrowly defeated Begich in the general election, 47.96% to 45.83%, a margin of 6,014 votes out of 282,400 cast. He was reelected in 2020, defeating independent challenger Al Gross by about 13 percentage points.