Alaska Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy announced early Thursday that he was ordering an investigation into whether members of Democrat Mary Peltola’s Senate campaign should face criminal charges after reports revealed they recruited a candidate named Dan Sullivan in an effort to draw votes away from Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan.
The New York Times reported on the effort Wednesday. Dunleavy called it “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.”
“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. The evidence will determine what happens next,” Dunleavy said. “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. Anyone or any organization found to have broken the law must be held accountable.”
Republicans had repeatedly objected to the appearance of Dan J. Sullivan on the Nov. 3 general-election ballot alongside Peltola and Sen. Dan S. Sullivan. The tactic, known as “ballot-stacking,” is legal, although critics have questioned its ethics. It remained unclear what additional violations, if any, Democrats may have committed.
The Times investigation described a recruitment effort involving staffers from both Peltola’s campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Veteran operative Jerid Kurtz reportedly made the initial contact with Dan J. Sullivan, a retired teacher and former U.S. Forest Service employee.
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Kurtz reportedly told Peltola aides earlier this year that Dan J. Sullivan “hated Trump” and would be willing to run a spoiler campaign “if it was going to help Mary.”
Dan J. Sullivan has maintained that he entered the race independently. He has also described himself as a moderate Republican. However, The Times reported earlier this year that he attended anti-Trump “No Kings” protests, backed Peltola in both of her 2022 and 2024 congressional campaigns, and kept a magnet featuring far-left revolutionary Che Guevara on his refrigerator.
In June, Alaska’s Division of Elections removed Dan J. Sullivan from the primary ballot, concluding that a “preponderance of the evidence” indicated his name and Republican affiliation had been selected to potentially confuse voters.
Days later, the Alaska Supreme Court ordered “Decoy Dan” returned to the ballot. The court ruled that state law did not require candidates to run in good faith and directed the state Division of Elections to take less drastic measures to distinguish between the two Sullivans.
