Dan Sullivan
Sullivan in 2010
Mayor of Anchorage
In office July 1, 2009 – July 1, 2015
Preceded by	Mark Begich
Succeeded by	Ethan Berkowitz
Member of theAnchorage Assembly from Seat E
In office April 1999 – April 2008
Preceded by	Joe Murdy
Succeeded by	Harriet Drummond
Personal details
Born	Daniel Albert Sullivan (1951-06-16)June 16, 1951 (age 74)
Political party	Republican (1986–present)
Spouse	Lynnette
Relations	George M. Sullivan (father)
Children	1
Residence(s)	Anchorage,Alaska, U.S.
Education	University of Oregon (BA)

Daniel Albert Sullivan (born June 16, 1951)^[1] is an American businessman and politician who served as themayor ofAnchorage from 2009 to 2015 and on theAnchorage Assembly from 1999 to 2008. The son of Anchorage's longest-serving mayor,George M. Sullivan, he was the Republican nominee forlieutenant governor of Alaska in the2014 election but he and incumbent GovernorSean Parnell were defeated by the ticket of IndependentBill Walker and DemocratByron Mallott.

Sullivan was born the third of seven sons, and nine children overall, of George Murray and Margaret Mary (née Eagan) Sullivan. His parents were from the Alaskan communities ofValdez andFairbanks, respectively. The Sullivan family came to Anchorage fromFairbanks in 1958 and 1959, when George Sullivan was hired as a regional executive forConsolidated Freightways. Dan Sullivan graduated from theUniversity of Oregon with abachelor's degree inpolitical science.

In the mid-1990s, he was the executive director of theArctic Winter Games, which were held in 1996 in the northern Anchorage communities ofChugiak andEagle River.

In 1999, Sullivan was elected to the first of three consecutive terms on the Anchorage Assembly. During his time on the Assembly, he sponsored an ordinance requiringlobbyists to disclose their affiliations when petitioning city government, which was largely in response to the lobbying efforts conducted within the municipal government byTom Anderson, who concurrently served in theAlaska House of Representatives. In 2005, he voted against an Anchorage Water and Wastewater Utility rate increase and in 2006 he challenged a city ordinance limiting the size and style of signs.

Sullivan, along with business partners, opened a bar and restaurant indowntown Anchorage in 2006 called McGinley's Pub. Located on G Street on the ground floor of an office building catering mostly to corporate and legal tenants, McGinley's sits due south across the alley from Anchorage'sCity Hall building, which houses the mayor's office.

In 2007, Sullivan announced his candidacy for mayor of Anchorage. He received the endorsement of then U.S. SenatorTed Stevens. Sullivan campaigned on a platform of reducing city spending and crime, and confronting what he termed "an energy crisis" as the result of dwindlingnatural gas reserves inCook Inlet.

Sullivan gained the plurality of votes in the April 7, 2009 general election, in which a record 15 candidates appeared on the ballot, but failed to reach 45 percent, triggering a May 5 runoff againstEric Croft, who had come in second with 19.61% of the vote.^[2]

Sales taxes became the major issue in the runoff campaign between Sullivan and Croft, with Croft charging that Sullivan wanted to replaceproperty taxes with a sales tax. Sullivan won the May 5 runoff election with 57.3% of the vote to Croft's 42.7%.

Sullivan was sworn in as mayor on July 1, 2009, succeeding acting mayorMatt Claman. He announced that his administration will introduce a celebration called "All Americans Week."

Mayor Sullivan gained nationwide attention for vetoing Assembly legislation which would have included municipal protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation.^[3] Additionally, he passed an ordinance that banned sitting on public sidewalks at certain times and vetoed an attempt by the assembly to repeal it.^[4][5][6]

Sullivan was re-elected to a second three-year term in April 2012, defeating Assemblyman and former Anchorage Police Department spokesman Paul Honeman. Sullivan announced that Anchorage would submit a bid to host the 2026 Winter Olympic Games, and proposed theredevelopment of an industrial area near Downtown Anchorage known as Ship Creek.

In 2013 he filed papers to run for the office ofLieutenant Governor of Alaska to succeedMead Treadwell, who was running for the U.S. Senate seat of former Anchorage MayorMark Begich. Mayor Sullivan ran unopposed in the Republican primary for that party's Lieutenant Governor nomination, while Treadwell lost his Senate primary to the otherDan Sullivan seeking statewide office in the 2014 Alaskan elections.^[7]

Sullivan is a third-generation Alaskan mayor. His paternal grandmother, Viola (née Murray) Sullivan, was mayor ofValdez in the 1930s.

On June 1, 2016, Sullivan announced he would be a candidate in the Republican primary for theU.S. Senate seat currently held byLisa Murkowski. If elected, he would have served alongside Alaska's current junior senator,Dan Sullivan (no relation). However, Sullivan dropped out of the race two weeks later on June 16, 2016. He did not provide a clear explanation of why he withdrew from the race. Erica Martinson, the Washington, D.C., reporter for theAnchorage Daily News said the decision "remains a bit of a mystery".^[8]

• 2009 Anchorage mayoral election
• George M. Sullivan
• List of mayors of Anchorage, Alaska

• Media related toDan Sullivan (Anchorage mayor) at Wikimedia Commons

• 1951 births
• Living people
• 21st-century mayors of places in Alaska
• Alaska Republicans
• Anchorage Assembly members
• Businesspeople from Fairbanks, Alaska
• Drinking establishment owners
• Mayors of Anchorage, Alaska
• Politicians from Fairbanks, Alaska
• People from Nenana, Alaska
• University of Oregon alumni

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