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Alaska Governor Orders Investigation Into Peltola Campaign's 'Decoy Dan' Scheme
· Confirmed
In Short: Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy has ordered an investigation into Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola's campaign after allegations that they recruited a candidate with the same name as her opponent, Sen. Dan Sullivan.
Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy has ordered an investigation into Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola’s campaign after a New York Times report detailed an alleged effort involving people connected to Peltola's campaign and national Democrats to recruit a candidate with the same name as her opponent, Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan.
The investigation, launched by the Alaska Bureau of Investigation, aims to determine whether the alleged conduct violated Alaska’s laws and whether criminal charges or civil action are warranted.
During a campaign stop in Soldotna, Peltola indicated that the Times’ report was a “distraction” from issues such as Sen. Sullivan’s support for the war in Iran.
The Alaska Department of Public Safety confirmed it has begun investigating the issue, following the governor’s order.
Dunleavy said in a statement, “Alaskans have a fundamental right to vote for the candidate they actually intend to support.” He added, “Anyone or any organization found to have broken the law must be held accountable.”
The U.S. Justice Department has also begun issuing grand jury subpoenas after President Donald Trump called for the criminal prosecution of Peltola and her campaign.
The campaign said it had “no involvement in either Sullivan campaign,” while the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) stated that Republicans “have a long history of recruiting and propping up candidates in an attempt to boost their own campaigns.”
The Alaska Division of Elections had previously investigated similar concerns in June, and the new reporting “substantially supports the Division’s findings.”
Background
Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski endorsed Democratic candidate Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins for governor of Alaska, a move that has drawn significant attention ahead of the midterm elections.
Alaska's Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski endorsed Democratic candidate Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins for governor, snubbing Trump-backed rivals.
What's confirmed
- Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy has ordered an investigation into an alleged effort by Senate candidate Mary Peltola’s campaign and a national Democratic group to influence the Nov. 3 election by encouraging a namesake challenger to U.S. Sen. Dan S.
- “Anyone or any organization found to have broken the law must be held accountable,” said Dunleavy, who is term-limited with a new governor set to be sworn in Dec. 7.
- “Alaskans have a fundamental right to vote for the candidate they actually intend to support,” he said.
- The Alaska Bureau of Investigation has launched “an investigation into the alleged conduct outlined in a recent New York Times article,” Austin McDaniel, deputy commissioner for the Alaska Department of Public Safety, said in a prepared statement Thursday afternoon.
- “The Alaska State Troopers are committed to the fair and impartial enforcement of Alaska’s criminal laws, including those that protect the integrity of our elections,” the statement said.
- “I am therefore directing the Department of Public Safety to investigate whether this scheme violated Alaska’s laws and whether criminal charges or civil action are warranted,” Dunleavy said on social media.
- The U.S. Justice Department has also begun issuing grand jury subpoenas after President Donald Trump called for the criminal prosecution of Peltola and her campaign.
- The Petersburg Sullivan registered as a Republican when he entered the race in the spring to challenge the incumbent senator, fueling accusations from state and national Republicans who say he is running a campaign in an effort to deceive voters.
- Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, discusses allegations his opponent, Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Mary Peltola, worked with operatives to recruit another Dan Sullivan to run for Senate on ‘Hannity.’ In the wake of a New York Times report detailing an alleged Democrat-linked election scheme by the campaign team of Rep. Mary Peltola that involved the recruitment of a candidate with nearly the exact same name as an incumbent GOP senator, Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy announced that he was ordering a probe into the matter.
- In a statement, the campaign said it had "no involvement in either Sullivan campaign."
- “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 on X.
What's still developing
- The New York Times reported on an alleged push by Democrats in Alaska to get another Dan Sullivan on the ballot, in what has been described as ballot stacking.
- The minute-long ad opens with a clip of Peltola saying, “I think that Alaskans have had it up to here with the lying and the dishonesty,” with text about her campaign’s reported recruitment of spoiler candidates.
- The Trump administration has sued to block certification of Alaska's November 3 Senate election if Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan narrowly loses to Democrat Mary Peltola, arguing that another candidate with a nearly identical name could cost the incumbent enough votes to change the outcome.