Republican Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy ordered an investigation into Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola’s campaign in response to a New York Times report which exposed a scheme by Democratic operatives to recruit a candidate into the race who shares a name with Peltola’s Republican opponent, in an attempt to confuse voters.
“Today’s New York Times reporting reveals disturbing new evidence of an organized effort to manipulate Alaska’s elections by recruiting candidates—including one with the same name as an incumbent U.S. Senator—to deliberately confuse voters and misdirect their votes,” Dunleavy wrote in a post on X. “The Alaska Division of Elections investigated these very concerns in June of this year. The new reporting substantially supports the Division’s findings.”
Republicans have long alleged that Dan J. Sullivan, a former teacher out of a small fishing town in Alaska, was recruited into the race by operatives connected to Peltola’s campaign in order to mislead voters who would otherwise have voted for the incumbent Republican, Dan S. Sullivan.
The Times published a report on Wednesday based on text messages, interviews, and documents which confirmed those suspicions. The report describes a concerted effort by a shadowy network of operatives to recruit not only Sullivan, but other obscure candidates who would dilute the vote and help Peltola’s chances of rising to the top in Alaska’s ranked-choice voting system.
The Peltola campaign and the copycat Sullivan campaign have denied any involvement in the scheme.
The Alaska Division of Elections initially took the copycat Sullivan off the primary ballot, citing fraud concerns. The state Supreme Court, however, ordered that his name be restored to the ballot, ruling that a candidate’s motivations for running, even if nefarious, have no bearing on the candidate’s eligibility. Now both Sullivans are on the ballot, alongside Peltola and Gerald Heikes, another registered Republican.
“Alaskans have a fundamental right to vote for the candidate they actually intend to support. Deliberately tricking voters into casting their ballots for someone else strikes at the integrity of our elections,” Dunleavy said. “Anyone or any organization found to have broken the law must be held accountable.”
The federal government has also taken interest in the copycat Sullivan campaign, initiating a grand jury investigation and issuing subpoenas over the summer to investigate whether Sullivan’s candidacy is a ploy to confuse voters. That investigation is ongoing, a source familiar with the matter told National Review on Wednesday.
The Department of Justice also recently filed suit to block the certification of the election if the incumbent Sullivan loses in a manner that suggests the sham candidate changed the outcome of the race. President Donald Trump recently told reporters he called for the suit.
The Peltola campaign did not immediately respond to National Review‘s request for comment regarding the new investigation.