From Prison to the Ballot: Eric Hafner's Unusual Run for Alaska's U.S. House 2026 A former federal inmate named Eric Hafner, who has never lived in Alaska, has secured a spot on the state's 2026 U.S. House general‑election ballot as a Democrat. Hafner's candidacy, which first emerged in 2024 and has drawn scrutiny from both parties, raises questions about residency requirements, ballot integrity and the influence of political parties in shaping the field. The story unfolds amid a broader Alaska political drama involving name‑shame controversies and Republican tactics to limit the number of candidates in the state's ranked‑choice system. A Democrat serving a 20‑year federal prison sentence has been cleared to appear on Alaska's 2026 U.S. House general‑election ballot for the second time, renewing scrutiny of an unusual candidate whom the state's Republican Party took to court to 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.Hafner Case Sparks Alaska Ballot ControversyBut 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. Who Is Eric Hafner? 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.Hafner Previously Ran For Congress In Hawaii" 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. In 2024, he entered Alaska's U.S. House race as a Democrat despite having no affiliation with the Alaska Democratic Party, a fact the party itself emphasized in its lawsuit seeking his removal.Eric Hafner Advances Again in Alaska's 2026 Election Hafner is not merely resurfacing because of the controversy over Alaska's U.S. Senate race. He is again running for the state's sole U.S. House seat in 2026 and advanced from the August primary while still serving his federal prison sentence in New York. Hafner received 6,175 votes, or 3.8 percent, according to certified results, far more than the 467 votes he received in Alaska's 2024 primary.Hafner Is Only Registered Democrat In 2026 RaceDemocrat Matt Schultz received 13,149 votes but had withdrawn from the general election before the primary and therefore did not advance. That leaves Hafner as the only candidate listed as a registered Democrat in Alaska's 2026 U.S. House general election. The other candidates are Republican Nick Begich, nonpartisan Bill Hill and Libertarian James C. "Jim" McDermott.The development renewed questions about whether Hafner could satisfy the U.S. Constitution's requirement that a House member be an inhabitant of the state when elected. Hafner's candidate information listed a mailing address in Box Elder, South Dakota, and a New York telephone number. Hafner's mother, Carol Hafner, also ran in Alaska this year, seeking a place on the U.S. Senate general‑election ballot, but did not advance. How Did Eric Hafner Get on Alaska's Ballot in 2024?Hafner Elevated To Ballot After Republican WithdrawalsHafner initially finished sixth in Alaska's August 2024 House primary, receiving just 0.43 percent of the vote, according to the Alaska Democratic Party's subsequent court complaint. That would ordinarily have left him outside Alaska's four‑candidate general election. But two Republicans who had finished ahead of him, Lieutenant Governor Nancy Dahlstrom and Matthew Salisbury, withdrew. Fifth‑place finisher John Wayne Howe and sixth‑place Hafner were then elevated onto the ballot alongside Peltola and Begich.The Alaska Republican Party's appellate brief said the Division of Elections certified those four candidates after the two withdrawals. The withdrawals came amid a broader Republican effort to consolidate the party's general‑election field. Before the primary, some Alaska Republican candidates had pledged to withdraw if another Republican finished ahead of them, a strategy aimed at producing fewer GOP candidates in the ranked‑choice general election.