Former Democratic Alaska Rep. Mary Peltola’s campaign secretly plotted to put another man named Dan Sullivan on the ballot to confuse voters and sabotage Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan’s reelection, according to a bombshell New York Times report published Wednesday. And just to make it spicier, Peltola’s campaign had been flatly denying any involvement the whole time.
An operative introduced by aides from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) used a fake name, made secret trips to Alaskan communities, and pitched the scheme to would-be candidates over beers at brew pubs. Because nothing says “grassroots democracy” quite like a mystery man from Ohio with a fake identity buying strangers drinks and asking them to run for Senate.
The Times interviewed 12 people who participated in or were told about the plan and obtained dozens of text messages tracking the effort. The DSCC introduced veteran Democratic operative Jerid Kurtz to former Peltola campaign manager Elisa Rios and former chief of staff Anton McParland. Kurtz told the team on a video call that he had made contact with a Dan Sullivan living in the village of Petersburg, who hated President Donald Trump and was willing to help Peltola win. You can read more about the Peltola Dan Sullivan ballot scheme in the full Times report.
Alaskan Matthew Salisbury told the Times he got a call from an unfamiliar Ohio area code. A man calling himself “Zane” met him at a pub and urged him to run for Senate. When the Times showed Salisbury a photo of Kurtz, he confirmed it was the same guy. Totally normal campaign activity, nothing to see here.
Text messages also showed that DSCC members and Peltola’s campaign considered creating a fake “MAGA Party” to draw conservative votes away from the real Sullivan, though those plans never got off the ground. Democratic strategist Amber Lee authored the press release announcing the other Dan Sullivan’s candidacy, according to metadata reviewed by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Despite all of this, Peltola’s campaign told the DCNF: “The Alaskans for Mary campaign has no involvement with either Sullivan campaign. Like Mary, our campaign is focused on lowering costs and fixing the rigged system in DC.” Fixing the rigged system, yes, by rigging it a little differently.
Sullivan’s campaign did not mince words. “Mary Peltola, her campaign, and her senior advisors colluded with the DSCC, national Democrat lawyers, and Alaska Democrat operatives to recruit candidates to deliberately deceive and confuse voters, and then repeatedly lied about it,” a campaign spokesperson told the DCNF. “Mary Peltola and her campaign have spent months gaslighting Alaskans, denying a scheme they were running all along.”
The other Dan Sullivan, a former schoolteacher with zero political experience, changed his party affiliation from Republican to unaffiliated just eight days before the general election. He had also donated $650 to Democrats nationwide, including Peltola herself. The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit Friday to block Alaska’s Senate results if the incumbent senator loses.
So to recap: a Democratic operative used a fake name, recruited a patsy Sullivan, the DSCC celebrated when courts allowed the copycat to stay on the ballot, and Peltola’s team called it all a coincidence. The voters of Alaska will have the last word, and something tells them they are not laughing.
