Alaska Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy ordered the state to launch an investigation into whether a secret Democrat scheme to trick voters violated state laws and should trigger civil or criminal charges.
The governor’s move comes on the heels of an explosive report from The New York Times exposing how Democrat operatives secretly manufactured an operation to get a second Dan Sullivan on the ballot to confuse voters who would support Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan and help Democrat challenger Mary Peltola swipe the crucial Alaska U.S. Senate seat.
“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 said. “The Alaska Division of Elections investigated these very concerns in June of this year. The new reporting substantially supports the Division’s findings.”
“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,” he added. “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.”
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Dunleavy’s order brings the full weight of Alaska law enforcement down on the operation, backing up an initial review by the Alaska Division of Elections. Meanwhile, the Department of Justice, at the direction of President Donald Trump, filed a federal lawsuit to halt certification of the election if the second Dan Sullivan manages to siphon enough GOP tallies to hand the seat to Peltola.
At a rally in Ohio on Wednesday night, Trump called for Peltola and the second Dan Sullivan to be removed from the midterm ballot.
“This is voter fraud at the highest level, and the Democrat candidate who was involved in the scheme, Mary Peltola … she should be removed from the ballot and prosecuted. So should the fake Dan Sullivan,” Trump said.
The dirty-tricks campaign kicked off in the summer of 2025. Facing off against incumbent GOP Sen. Dan S. Sullivan, top Peltola campaign aides sent staffers on a mission to look through voter registries and track down as many registered voters in Alaska named “Dan Sullivan” as possible, the Times reported.
The goal apparently was to siphon votes from the Republican incumbent under Alaska’s open, four-person general election system.
Jerid Kurtz of Ohio, who worked alongside national Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) operatives and Peltola campaign lawyers, used fake aliases, burner phone numbers, and pub meetings to look for potential spoiler candidates, according to the Times.
In a secluded coastal fishing village reachable only by boat or plane, Kurtz found Dan J. Sullivan, a retired schoolteacher who harbored a grudge against Trump and agreed to jump into the contest. Operatives also reportedly convinced a drywall contractor to launch a long-shot campaign to fracture the Right-wing vote even further. They even considered fabricating an entire third-party “MAGA” ticket.
Everything was secret until fired Peltola campaign manager Elisa Rios blew the whistle. Rios provided receipts, including internal texts showing national Democrats and campaign aides plotting the maneuver. The texts also showed them mocking unsuspecting voters and celebrating when the second Dan Sullivan survived a ballot challenge.
Both the Peltola camp and the DSCC repeatedly insisted they had no hand in the ghost candidate’s campaign. When pressed by reporters, Peltola’s operation and the DSCC repeated their denials, but dodged answering a list of detailed questions regarding the evidence.
Peltola herself attempted to brush off the brewing scandal. She called the revelation a distraction and claimed regular voters only care about their wallets.
“This is just another distraction. It’s another diversion,” Peltola said on Wednesday, adding, “This is all stuff to sell newspapers. This is all stuff to get subscriptions.”
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