Alaska Governor Orders Probe Into Peltola Senate Campaign Over Ballot Namesake

Alaska's governor opened an inquiry into the Democratic Senate campaign of Mary Peltola.

Governor Mike Dunleavy, a Republican, issued the order overnight on social media, one day after President Donald Trump said Peltola and her campaign should face criminal charges. Dunleavy wrote that reporting by The New York Times "reveals new and disturbing evidence of an organized effort to manipulate Alaska's elections through the recruitment of candidates, including one with the same name as a sitting U.S. senator, to deliberately confuse voters and divert their votes."

The contest involves Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., a retired teacher from Petersburg, who appears on the state ballot without party affiliation. The incumbent, Senator Dan Sullivan, appears as "Dan S. Sullivan," identified as a registered Republican and incumbent. A state election official ruled earlier this year that Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. was ineligible for the primary ballot, concluding his candidacy filing was submitted "for the purpose of confusing or deceiving and thereby compromising the impartiality or neutrality of the ballot." The Alaska Supreme Court later determined he qualified to run. Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. has said he had no contact with Peltola's campaign, answering "Zero, nothing, none at all" in June when he announced his candidacy.

The New York Times reported that interviews, text messages and documents prepared for a possible lawsuit showed Peltola's team sought to recruit candidates to split support from the Republican senator. Dunleavy said the report "substantially supports" earlier conclusions from the state election board, and added: "Deliberately deceiving voters to cast their ballot for another person undermines the integrity of our elections."

Trump said Wednesday that he believed they should be prosecuted, and he had previously written on social media that Peltola should face legal and political consequences. On Thursday, Trump questioned whether Peltola would be sworn in even if she won, telling reporters heading to a rally in South Carolina, "Well, they're going to have to see what happens. It's hard to believe she can even be allowed to run." Vice President JD Vance said he backed an inquiry into possible election fraud, telling reporters before a campaign trip to Texas that Peltola "has spent months pretending she had nothing to do with the fact that a fraudulent person was placed on the ballot, a person explicitly designed to confuse Alaska voters."

Peltola's campaign did not respond to a Thursday request for comment on the governor's order. At a campaign stop in Soldotna, the former congresswoman described the Times report as a distraction from matters such as Senator Sullivan's support for the war in Iran. "This is just another distraction. It's another distraction maneuver," Peltola said in a video posted online. "All of this is to sell newspapers. All of this is to get subscriptions."

Dunleavy's post cited the Times article. The state's Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. qualified for the ballot.