Sullivan's silence on who won the 2020 election
Sen. Dan Sullivan has somehow managed to get to mid-October of his 2026 reelection campaign without having to answer a simple question—Who won the 2020 presidential race?
Refusing to answer this question may have been a key reason why he has declined to answer a questionnaire from four major Alaska news organizations before the primary and before the general election.
It’s strange that the election of Joe Biden as president six years ago should be a relevant topic in the Sullivan-Peltola Senate race, but Donald Trump has made it so.
Everywhere he goes, Trump lies that the 2020 election, which took place when he was president, was stolen from him.
He repeated the lie in Wasilla, claiming “they had a rigged election and this crooked guy came in -- not so -- he's crooked, but he was a stupid person, ok?”
Trump insists that his followers play along with his claims that Biden was not elected legitimately.
Trump nominees, therefore, are only permitted to say that Biden was “certified” as the winner of the 2020 election. That answer follows the Trump lie, claiming Biden was certified alright, but not the winner.
Trump’s followers are not permitted to tell the truth—that Biden was elected and Trump lost. Every court case about election fraud failed.
The questionnaire that Sullivan refused to answer this summer asked: “Do you believe that Donald Trump was the rightful winner of the 2020 election?
After the 2020 election, Sullivan had refused to acknowledge that Joe Biden had won the election and Trump lost. Sullivan was silent about the Trump cacophony of election lies.
As I wrote here on Jan. 10, 2021, it was obvious to Sen. Lisa Murkowski in November 2020 that Trump had lost, but not to Sullivan.
Trump’s failure to produce any winning legal arguments should have ended the matter, but Senate Republicans encouraged Trump with their support or silence and Trump continued to lie from the highest office in the land.
After the Electoral College met on December 14, 2020, Sullivan refused to say that Biden won the election and Trump lost. But he said the electors had met and determined that Biden was the president.
As late as Monday, January 4, 2021, Sullivan refused to comment on the GOP coup proposed by radical members of Congress who didn’t want to accept Trump’s defeat.
On Thursday, Jan. 7, 2021 Sullivan claimed to the Daily News he had "decided a number of days ago" to oppose the coup and accept the election results.
"I think had the president accepted the election results earlier and repudiated the mob violence earlier and more forcefully, it could have had an impact yesterday,” Sullivan told the Daily News a day after the riots, rewriting history to portray himself as someone who wanted Trump to change his behavior.
Sullivan claimed, “I never denied the results of the election.” He said he “supported the right of the Trump campaign to pursue legal challenges. . .”
In truth, Sullivan denied the results of the election for as long as possible.
In the post-riot term paper his office inflicted on Alaskans, Sullivan says, “I wish fervently that President Trump had accepted the results of the election. . .”
Sullivan waited until after the insurrection to express his fervent wish.
“With their votes this past election, the American people spoke and chose a new President,” Sullivan said.
For six years, Trump has continued to lie about the 2020 election, with the eager approval of nearly every Republican in Congress. Sen. Lisa Murkowski is an exception to the rule.
Begich will continue to lie about the election. Sullivan, if ever pressed on the topic, will not be forthright. He will not repeat his 2021 condemnation of Trump or say that Trump’s “blatant disregard” of Pence, “infuriates me.”
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