President Trump said Democrat Mary Peltola “shouldn’t be allowed to run” in next week’s Alaska Senate election after The New York Times reported that people connected to her campaign helped recruit a candidate who shares the first and last names of her leading Republican opponent, Sen. Dan Sullivan.
“I don’t think Mary Peltola, after perpetrating such a terrible scheme, should be allowed to run, because this is ELECTION FRAUD,” Trump wrote in one of several Truth Social posts addressing the matter. “The Democrats cheated!”
Peltola’s campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, or DSCC, have firmly denied any involvement in placing the second Sullivan on the ballot.
Alaska voters are deciding among four candidates who advanced from the state’s nonpartisan primary earlier this year. The field includes Peltola and Sullivan, as well as retired teacher Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. Alaska’s ranked-choice ballot lets voters order the candidates instead of choosing only one. It identifies the sitting senator as a Republican and incumbent, while Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. is listed without a party affiliation.
The Times reported Wednesday that a Democratic operative who worked with Peltola’s campaign and national Democrats encouraged Daniel J. Sullivan to enter the race, based on text messages and interviews. The newspaper said the effort appeared to be part of a broader push to recruit additional candidates.
The second Sullivan has frustrated Republicans for months. The incumbent senator has labeled his same-name challenger a “sham candidate” attempting to confuse voters. Daniel J. Sullivan has rejected those claims and said he is sincerely seeking a Senate seat.
State officials initially tried to remove him from the ballot, concluding that his candidacy could confuse voters and was not a “good-faith candidacy.” The Alaska Supreme Court overturned that decision and ruled that the other Sullivan could remain on the ballot.
Last week, the Justice Department filed a lawsuit seeking to block certification of the election if Sen. Dan Sullivan loses because of “voter confusion” involving the two candidates with the same name. Attorney General Todd Blanche described the case as an effort to “put guardrails in place.” Asked about the lawsuit, Trump told reporters: “Well, I’m the one that said, ‘Do it.’”
Nate Adams, a spokesperson for Sen. Dan Sullivan’s campaign, said in response to the Times report that “Alaskans deserve the truth.”
“Mary Peltola and her campaign have spent months gaslighting Alaskans, denying a scheme they were running all along,” Adams said.
Trump described the episode as “voter fraud at the highest level” while speaking to reporters.
“It’s terrible what’s happened in Alaska,” he said Wednesday. “They created a fake candidate.”
Democrats have denied any role in Daniel J. Sullivan’s campaign. A spokesperson for Peltola said the campaign “has no involvement with either Sullivan campaign.”
“Mary got in this race because Alaskans deserve a champion who is fighting to lower their costs and put Alaska first, and no tweet or threat from any DC politician will keep her away from that fight,” the spokesperson said.
A spokesperson for the DSCC, the campaign organization for Senate Democrats, likewise said the group “is not involved with Dan J. Sullivan.”
The spokesperson said Republicans “have a long history of recruiting and propping up candidates in an attempt to boost their own campaigns.” The DSCC cited a man serving a 20-year prison sentence in New York who ran for Alaska’s House seat in 2024, along with an Arizona man who entered this year’s Alaska Senate primary.
