Election 2026
Independent, source-first accountability
Issue record
What each candidate says on this issue, and what their own official record shows.
Campaign positions
No position was found. The Division of Elections candidate list gives only his name, party registration, address and telephone number; he filed no statement for the official election pamphlet, the list names no website or email for him, and the Federal Election Commission shows no campaign committee for him this cycle. He did not answer the 2026 voter guides of four Alaska newsrooms or iVoterGuide.
Her campaign says she will fight to ban factory trawling, keep mid-water trawlers off the bottom, fund fishery disaster aid and stock assessments, press NOAA to enforce the bycatch standards in the Magnuson-Stevens Act, and expand electronic monitoring of trawl fleets.
His campaign credits him with the Save Our Seas Acts and the Alaska Salmon Research Task Force Act, and his pamphlet statement says he has passed legislation to reduce bycatch and to ban the importation of Russian and Chinese trawl-caught fish. He introduced a Bycatch Reduction Act in June 2026.
His questionnaire answers oppose cuts to salmon research and active management, say that cuts at NOAA will almost certainly affect the ability to monitor salmon, and support investment in fishing-industry infrastructure.
Evidence timeline
official action
The committee advanced his bill; his September 23 Senate-passage consent request drew an objection.
Sullivan said his bycatch bill advanced from committee and he brought it to the Senate floor. He sponsored S.4938, introduced June 24, 2026. The Commerce Committee advanced an amended version by voice vote September 16. On September 23, he requested unanimous consent for Senate passage; the request drew an objection. Limit: Committee advancement and a consent request are not passage. Neither records each Republican’s vote; comparative comprehensiveness is not assessed.
official action
The laws this desk read ban no such imports; a 2025 defense law section, credited to him by his office and Rep. Chris Smith, stops the Pentagon buying seafood from China and Russia.
His election pamphlet statement says “We’ve passed historic legislation” to do four things: clean up our oceans, strengthen salmon runs, reduce bycatch, and ban the importation of Russian and Chinese trawl-caught fish. A campaign ad released on August 11, 2026 says he banned the importation of Russian and Chinese fish. No law this desk read bans importing Russian or Chinese fish. His two bills to restrict Russian seafood imports, the United States-Russian Federation Seafood Reciprocity Acts of 2022 (S. 3614) and 2023 (S. 2011), were referred to the Finance Committee and went no further. His Fighting Foreign Illegal Seafood Harvests Act, S. 688, passed the Senate by unanimous consent on March 22, 2026 and is held at the House desk; it orders a study of Russian and Chinese seafood reprocessing and says it carries no authority to impose sanctions on imports. The closest enacted provision is section 831 of the defense authorization for Fiscal Year 2026, Public Law 119-60, signed December 18, 2025, which stops the Defense Department buying seafood from China, Russia, Iran or North Korea for dining halls, ships and commissaries, with waivers. That limits what the Pentagon buys, not what enters the country, and it is not limited to trawl-caught fish. The Senate Armed Services Committee's version of the bill, reported July 15, 2025, carried a China-only provision as its section 628; the committee's report presents it as the committee's recommendation and names no author. His Senate office says he offered it, and Representative Chris Smith said on April 16, 2026 that the final bill “included a sweeping Sullivan amendment” on Chinese seafood in commissaries. Imports of Russian seafood are banned by executive order: Executive Order 14068 of March 2022, and Executive Order 14114 of December 22, 2023, which let the ban reach Russian-caught fish processed in another country. Neither is legislation. Limit: No law bans those imports. The closest is a 2025 defense-law section, which his office and Rep. Chris Smith credit to him, that stops the Pentagon buying seafood from China, Russia, Iran or North Korea.
official action
She was the first cosponsor listed on the FISHES Act, which became law in January 2025; the official record tracks cosponsor order, not a party lead.
Her campaign says she was the lead Democratic co-sponsor of the FISHES Act, which became law in 2025 and helps get fishery disaster relief to fishermen. Congress.gov lists her as the first original cosponsor of H.R. 5103, the FISHES Act, introduced by Representative Byron Donalds of Florida on August 1, 2023; she signed on the day it was introduced. It became Public Law 118-229 on January 4, 2025. Limit: Congress.gov records the order in which members cosponsor, not a party lead; being first on the list is consistent with “lead Democratic co-sponsor” without proving the title. The law's effect on how quickly disaster money reaches fishermen is not something its text or this record measures.
official action
Peltola backed a Russian-seafood import proposal that did not become law; the bill she cited remains unidentified.
Peltola said the U.S. should not buy anything from Russia, then cited work on a fisheries bill. She was an original cosponsor of H.R.4165, introduced June 15, 2023, to ban Russian seafood imports, including products substantially transformed abroad. The bill did not become law. Limit: This covers seafood imports only, not fishing at sea. The bill she cited remains unidentified.
official action
He sponsored it, and its text became law inside the December 2022 year-end spending act, which he voted against.
His campaign says he spearheaded the Alaska Salmon Research Task Force Act, bringing scientists, stakeholders and policymakers together to understand declining salmon runs. He sponsored the Act as S. 3429, introduced December 16, 2021; the Senate passed it and it was held at the House desk. Its text became law another way, as Title III of Division S of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023, Public Law 117-328, which says the title may be cited as the Alaska Salmon Research Task Force Act. He voted Nay on that act: the Congressional Record prints him among the 29 nays on roll call 421 of December 22, 2022, the Senate's final vote on it, which carried 68 to 29. Limit: The Act is his and its text is law, which is what “spearheaded” claims. It became law inside a year-end spending act he voted against, so his vote on the enacting bill ran the other way from the provision he wrote; a vote on an omnibus spending act is not a vote on any one title of it.
official action
He sponsored both, and they became law in October 2018 and December 2020, during Trump's first term; whether they are the most comprehensive in history is not judged.
His campaign biography says his Save Our Seas Act and Save Our Seas 2.0 Act were signed into law by President Trump and are the most comprehensive ocean cleanup legislation in history. He sponsored both. The Save Our Seas Act of 2018, S. 3508, became Public Law 115-265 on October 11, 2018, and the Save Our Seas 2.0 Act, S. 1982, became Public Law 116-224 on December 18, 2020; both dates fall in President Trump's first term. The 2.0 Act is the law that established the Marine Debris Foundation, which his campaign also credits to him. A third bill of his, the Save Our Seas 2.0 Amendments Act, S. 216, became Public Law 119-65 on December 26, 2025. Limit: The laws are his by sponsorship and were signed when the claim says. “The most comprehensive ocean cleanup legislation in history” is a comparison no official source makes, and it is not judged here. A bill he introduced in 2017 under the name Save Our Seas Act, S. 756, was later used as the vehicle for the First Step Act, a criminal-justice law; it is not counted as an ocean law.
See something wrong or incomplete? Report it for review.
Alaska Division of Elections · Reviewed Sep 23, 2026
The Division's list of certified candidates for the November 3, 2026 general election, read September 23, 2026. It lists four candidates for U.S. Senator, alphabetically: Heikes, Gerald L. (Registered Republican); Peltola, Mary (Registered Democrat); Sullivan, Dan S. (Registered Republican, incumbent); Sullivan, Daniel J. Jr. (Registered Republican). For Gerald L. Heikes it gives an address and telephone number only: no website, email or pamphlet statement.
official election record
For: Gerald L. Heikes: campaign position
Federal Election Commission · Reviewed Sep 23, 2026
The FEC's candidate record for him, read September 23, 2026: no principal campaign committee and no financial report for the 2026 cycle.
fec filing
For: Gerald L. Heikes: campaign position
KTOO, Alaska Beacon, Alaska Public Media and Anchorage Daily News · Reviewed Sep 24, 2026
The four newsrooms' joint guide for the August 18, 2026 primary. On the U.S. Senate tab, each of his answers reads “We made several attempts to contact the candidate, but the candidate did not respond,” except his hometown, which the guide took from the Division. Read September 24, 2026 through the data the page loads from app.electup.com. The Alaska Beacon's own copy returned 403 and was not tried further.
original reporting
For: Gerald L. Heikes: campaign position
iVoterGuide · Reviewed Sep 24, 2026
A voter-guide site's profile of him for the 2026 Senate race. Every questionnaire item is marked “Did not answer” and every biography field “Candidate did not provide”. Read September 24, 2026.
original reporting
For: Gerald L. Heikes: campaign position
Alaskans for Mary · Reviewed Sep 23, 2026
Issue page. Campaign-controlled source; claims are attributed, not independently verified. Her filed website, confirmed by its line “Paid for by Alaskans for Mary”. The whole site was read through its public content feed on September 23, 2026: 29 pages and 64 posts. Links in two posts that run through an email-tracking service carrying a subscriber identifier were deliberately not followed.
candidate statement
For: Mary Peltola: campaign position
Alaskans for Dan Sullivan · Reviewed Sep 23, 2026
Campaign biography page, dated May 5, 2026 in the site's own feed. Campaign-controlled source; claims are attributed, not independently verified. The committee's filed website is WWW.DANSULLIVANFORALASKA.COM; the www host fails a secure connection, so the site was read at the bare domain, confirmed by its line "Paid for by Alaskans for Dan Sullivan". The whole site was read through its public content feed on September 23, 2026: nine pages and 33 posts, and no issues page.
candidate statement
For: Dan S. Sullivan: campaign position; Dan S. Sullivan: Matches stated record claim
Alaskans for Dan Sullivan · Published Apr 17, 2026 · Reviewed Sep 23, 2026
Campaign release of April 17, 2026. The Salmon Research Task Force sentence is the campaign's own narration, outside the quoted endorsement. Campaign-controlled source; claims are attributed, not independently verified. The committee's filed website is WWW.DANSULLIVANFORALASKA.COM; the www host fails a secure connection, so the site was read at the bare domain, confirmed by its line "Paid for by Alaskans for Dan Sullivan". The whole site was read through its public content feed on September 23, 2026: nine pages and 33 posts, and no issues page.
candidate statement
For: Dan S. Sullivan: campaign position; Dan S. Sullivan: Matches stated record claim
Alaska Division of Elections · Reviewed Sep 24, 2026
Candidate-written and candidate-paid statement published by the Division, which says the views are the candidate's and not endorsed by it. A PDF, saved and hashed in the research folder; the seafood sentence the desk quotes is checked against the Division's copy.
candidate statement
For: Dan S. Sullivan: campaign position; Dan S. Sullivan: Matches stated direction
Congress.gov · Reviewed Sep 23, 2026
Sponsored by Dan S. Sullivan, introduced June 24, 2026; ordered reported by the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee on September 16, 2026.
official legislative record
Congress.gov / U.S. Government Publishing Office · Published Jun 24, 2026 · Reviewed Oct 22, 2026
Primary record reviewed October 22, 2026 for this debate comparison.
official legislative record
For: Dan S. Sullivan: campaign position; Dan S. Sullivan: Matches stated record claim
Daniel J. Sullivan for US Senate · Published Jul 13, 2026 · Reviewed Sep 23, 2026
His answers to Alaska Public Media's questionnaire, posted July 13, 2026. Campaign-controlled source; positions are attributed, not independently verified. Confirmed as his by the footer “Paid for by Daniel J. Sullivan for US Senate P.O. Box 1656, Petersburg, Alaska 99833”. The research agent's network could not reach the site (a failed secure connection, and a network security filter on the plain address), and the filter was not bypassed; the site was read in full on September 23, 2026 in the owner's own browser: home, press (two releases), links, and six posts found through its sitemap. The owner's browser saved the pages' text on September 23, 2026, and the desk's quotations are checked against that saved copy.
candidate statement
For: Daniel J. Sullivan Jr.: campaign position
Alaska Public Media / KTUU / KTOO · Published Oct 15, 2026 · Reviewed Oct 22, 2026
29:44; paraphrase of saved native English captions; no second transcript compared.
candidate statement
For: Dan S. Sullivan: Matches stated record claim
U.S. Senate Commerce Committee · Published Sep 16, 2026 · Reviewed Oct 22, 2026
Primary record reviewed October 22, 2026 for this debate comparison.
official legislative record
For: Dan S. Sullivan: Matches stated record claim
U.S. Government Publishing Office · Published Sep 23, 2026 · Reviewed Nov 2, 2026
Printed S4909–S4910 records Sullivan requesting unanimous consent for immediate consideration and passage of S.4938 with a substitute; Markey objected. No individual Republican roll call is recorded.
official legislative record
For: Dan S. Sullivan: Matches stated record claim
Alaskans for Dan Sullivan · Published Aug 11, 2026 · Reviewed Sep 23, 2026
Campaign release of August 11, 2026 with the transcript of its ad “Captain Bob”; the speaker is a Seward charter captain in the campaign's own ad, and the transcript spells trawl-caught as “troll caught”. Only the ad's claims about his own record are used here; its statements about his opponent are out of scope. Campaign-controlled source; claims are attributed, not independently verified. The committee's filed website is WWW.DANSULLIVANFORALASKA.COM; the www host fails a secure connection, so the site was read at the bare domain, confirmed by its line "Paid for by Alaskans for Dan Sullivan". The whole site was read through its public content feed on September 23, 2026: nine pages and 33 posts, and no issues page.
candidate statement
For: Dan S. Sullivan: Matches stated direction
Congress.gov · Reviewed Sep 23, 2026
Sponsored by Dan S. Sullivan; referred to the Finance Committee on February 9, 2022, with no further action.
official legislative record
For: Dan S. Sullivan: Matches stated direction
Congress.gov · Reviewed Sep 23, 2026
Sponsored by Dan S. Sullivan; referred to the Finance Committee on June 15, 2023, with no further action.
official legislative record
For: Dan S. Sullivan: Matches stated direction
Congress.gov · Reviewed Sep 23, 2026
Sponsored by Dan S. Sullivan. Passed the Senate with an amendment by unanimous consent on March 22, 2026; received in the House and held at the desk on March 24, 2026. The Senate-passed text (read from GovInfo) orders a study of Russian and Chinese fishing industries and seafood reprocessing in China (section 12(b)), and section 14 says the Act includes no authority or requirement to impose sanctions on the importation of goods.
official legislative record
For: Dan S. Sullivan: Matches stated direction
U.S. Government Publishing Office · Reviewed Sep 23, 2026
Enacted text, approved December 18, 2025. Section 831 applies the Berry Amendment to seafood from China, Russia, Iran and North Korea. The text of this law and ten others he voted on or sponsored, and the enrolled H.R. 5334, were searched for a seafood import ban; none has one.
official legislative record
For: Dan S. Sullivan: Matches stated direction
Congress.gov · Reviewed Sep 23, 2026
The Senate Armed Services Committee's bill as reported on July 15, 2025, read from GovInfo. Section 628 bars Defense Department procurement and commissary sale of seafood from China only.
official legislative record
For: Dan S. Sullivan: Matches stated direction
U.S. Government Publishing Office · Reviewed Sep 23, 2026
The committee report. It describes section 628 as a provision the committee recommends and names no author; its tabulation of roll-call votes in markup, which lists Dan S. Sullivan as a member voting, contains no vote on seafood.
official legislative record
For: Dan S. Sullivan: Matches stated direction
Federal Register · Reviewed Sep 23, 2026
Presidential order of March 11, 2022, published March 15, 2022. Section 1(a)(i) prohibits importing fish, seafood and preparations of Russian origin. An executive action, not legislation.
official office record
For: Dan S. Sullivan: Matches stated direction
Federal Register · Published Dec 26, 2023 · Reviewed Sep 23, 2026
Presidential order of December 22, 2023. It amends Executive Order 14068 so that the import ban can reach fish and seafood harvested in Russian waters or by Russia-flagged vessels even when processed into other products outside Russia. An executive action, not legislation.
official office record
For: Dan S. Sullivan: Matches stated direction
U.S. Government Publishing Office · Reviewed Sep 23, 2026
Enacted text, searched for seafood provisions: it enhances the Seafood Import Monitoring Program and adds import audits. Monitoring, not a ban.
official legislative record
For: Dan S. Sullivan: Matches stated direction
Office of Senator Dan Sullivan · Published Oct 21, 2025 · Reviewed Sep 23, 2026
Release from his Senate office, dated 10.21.25, after Senate passage of its defense bill. It says the bill “includes 53 provisions and amendments offered by Sen. Sullivan” and lists among them: “Prohibit military dining facilities and commissaries from purchasing or selling seafood that originates or is processed in the People’s Republic of China (PRC)”. His office's own account; attributed, not independently verified.
candidate statement
For: Dan S. Sullivan: Matches stated direction
Office of Senator Dan Sullivan · Published Dec 17, 2025 · Reviewed Sep 23, 2026
Release from his Senate office, dated 12.17.25, after final Senate passage. It says the final bill “includes 19 provisions and amendments offered by Sen. Sullivan” and lists the same China seafood item among them. His office's own account; attributed, not independently verified.
candidate statement
For: Dan S. Sullivan: Matches stated direction
Office of Senator Dan Sullivan · Published Dec 22, 2023 · Reviewed Sep 23, 2026
Release from his Senate office, dated 12.22.23, lauding Executive Order 14114 and the Treasury determination under it, and crediting nearly two years of his advocacy with federal agencies. A statement of December 2023; his office's own account; attributed, not independently verified.
candidate statement
For: Dan S. Sullivan: Matches stated direction
Office of Representative Chris Smith · Published Apr 16, 2026 · Reviewed Sep 24, 2026
Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), co-chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, at its April 16, 2026 hearing. He says last year's defense bill “included a sweeping Sullivan amendment” barring Chinese seafood from Pentagon commissaries. It concerns military purchasing, not imports, and names no amendment number. He dates the Senate's passage of S. 688 to March 24; Congress.gov gives March 22, the date this desk uses. Found by outside research (brief of September 23, 2026, item 12).
official office record
For: Dan S. Sullivan: Matches stated direction
Alaskans for Mary · Published Aug 16, 2026 · Reviewed Sep 23, 2026
Campaign release of August 16, 2026 listing what it calls her policy wins; the source of most of her record claims on this desk. Campaign-controlled source; claims are attributed, not independently verified. Her filed website, confirmed by its line “Paid for by Alaskans for Mary”. The whole site was read through its public content feed on September 23, 2026: 29 pages and 64 posts. Links in two posts that run through an email-tracking service carrying a subscriber identifier were deliberately not followed.
candidate statement
For: Mary Peltola: Matches stated record claim
Congress.gov · Reviewed Sep 23, 2026
Sponsored by Byron Donalds of Florida, introduced August 1, 2023, with Mary Peltola as the first original cosponsor that day; became Public Law 118-229 on January 4, 2025.
official legislative record
For: Mary Peltola: Matches stated record claim
Alaska Public Media / Alaska Debate · Published Oct 15, 2026 · Reviewed Oct 28, 2026
Paraphrase from the dated debate; timestamp links to the statement.
candidate statement
For: Mary Peltola: Matches stated direction
U.S. Congress · Published Jun 15, 2023 · Reviewed Oct 28, 2026
Peltola joined as an original cosponsor June 15, 2023; the bill did not become law.
official legislative record
For: Mary Peltola: Matches stated direction
U.S. Government Publishing Office · Published Jun 15, 2023 · Reviewed Oct 28, 2026
Proposes Russian-seafood import restrictions, including products transformed abroad, with conditional termination.
official legislative record
For: Mary Peltola: Matches stated direction
Congress.gov · Reviewed Sep 23, 2026
Sponsored by Dan S. Sullivan, introduced December 16, 2021; passed the Senate and held at the House desk on December 15, 2022.
official legislative record
For: Dan S. Sullivan: Matches stated record claim
U.S. Government Publishing Office · Reviewed Sep 23, 2026
Enacted text, signed December 29, 2022. Division S, Title III is the Alaska Salmon Research Task Force Act; Division DD, section 302 is the University of Alaska land program.
official legislative record
For: Dan S. Sullivan: Matches stated record claim
U.S. Government Publishing Office · Reviewed Sep 23, 2026
Congressional Record, on the motion to concur in the House amendment to H.R. 2617 with amendment No. 6552, the Senate's final vote on the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023: 68 yeas, 29 nays. Read with tools/senate-votes/collector.py, which checks every block count against the printed tally.
official legislative record
For: Dan S. Sullivan: Matches stated record claim
Congress.gov · Reviewed Sep 23, 2026
Sponsored by Dan S. Sullivan; became Public Law 115-265 on October 11, 2018.
official legislative record
For: Dan S. Sullivan: Matches stated record claim
Congress.gov · Reviewed Sep 23, 2026
Sponsored by Dan S. Sullivan; became Public Law 116-224 on December 18, 2020.
official legislative record
For: Dan S. Sullivan: Matches stated record claim
U.S. Government Publishing Office · Reviewed Sep 23, 2026
Enacted text, used for the Marine Debris Foundation it establishes.
official legislative record
For: Dan S. Sullivan: Matches stated record claim
Congress.gov · Reviewed Sep 23, 2026
Sponsored by Dan S. Sullivan; became Public Law 119-65 on December 26, 2025.
official legislative record
For: Dan S. Sullivan: Matches stated record claim