The FBI is knocking on doors across Alaska and even in Massachusetts, talking to donors who gave money to a Senate candidate named Dan Sullivan. Not the Republican senator. The other one. The retired teacher and musician who just happens to share a name with the GOP incumbent, and who federal investigators now believe may have been planted in the race to siphon votes away from Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan ahead of Tuesday’s ranked choice election.
An Anchorage-based FBI agent made the trip to Petersburg, a remote fishing town you can only reach by air or water, and visited a boat dealership to track down donor Charles Flint. Flint told the Associated Press he’s known his Dan Sullivan for years as a respected teacher and musician, gave him $500 over the summer, and feels zero regret about it. When the agent asked Flint’s son whether dad felt “misled” about which candidate he was supporting, the answer was a hard no. Flint himself, reached by phone, said he has “no intention” of calling the agent back and would “let him waste his time trying to track me down.” Honestly, good for him.
Two FBI agents also showed up in Sitka for a doorstep chat with another donor, and a separate pair knocked on Pat Campbell’s door in Groton, Massachusetts. Campbell texted the AP that the agents said they were “investigating fraud in election contributions” and, like Flint, she and her husband said they knew exactly who they were supporting. the Decoy Dan Sullivan donor investigation has now spread well beyond Alaska’s borders, which tells you something about how seriously the feds are taking this.
Alaska U.S. Attorney Michael Heyman confirmed the investigation has been running for several months. But recent New York Times reporting that Democrat Mary Peltola’s campaign appeared to be involved in recruiting the other Dan Sullivan caused what Heyman called a “significant surge of law enforcement assets to Alaska.” The Department of Justice also pushed Friday for a court order to isolate certain Alaska ballots while the probe continues. President Trump, asked about the case Saturday night at a Halloween party at Mar-a-Lago, called it “voter fraud at the highest level” and suggested the candidate had gone into hiding, saying, “Nobody can find him now, so he knows he’s guilty.” Trump also suggested top Democratic leaders outside Alaska could be involved and should be prosecuted.
Peltola, meanwhile, held a rally at an Anchorage aviation museum Friday where she called the allegations “garbage” and part of a “smear campaign” to suppress voter turnout. She said she was “deeply offended” and insisted, “I know I can beat Dan Sullivan. I do not need any help winning this race.” Sure, Mary. Totally normal for a Senate campaign to just accidentally recruit a retired teacher with the exact same name as the Republican incumbent. Happens all the time.
Tuesday’s ranked choice election will determine whether Peltola reclaims her congressional seat or Sen. Dan Sullivan, the actual one, holds on. With the FBI now working multiple states and the DOJ moving in court, the next few days are going to be anything but boring. Nothing says “I had nothing to do with this” quite like the feds fanning out across the Last Frontier to find out who exactly cooked up Decoy Dan.
