Peltola campaign tied to effort recruiting second Dan Sullivan on Alaska ballot
A New York Times report says 12 sources, text messages and documents show Peltola campaign members, her lawyers and Democratic Senatorial Committee aides helped push Dan J. Sullivan onto the ballot.
By Fatou Mitchell ·
Mary Peltola's Senate campaign came under scrutiny Wednesday after a New York Times report detailed an effort to place a second Dan Sullivan on Alaska's ballot. The report said members of Peltola's campaign, lawyers for Peltola and senior aides at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee contributed to pushing Dan J. Sullivan, a Republican in Alaska's four-way race, to run. The Times said its account relied on 12 sources, text messages and documents. The effort to find a candidate who could siphon votes from incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan was internally called the ballot composition project.
Alaskans for Mary, Peltola's campaign committee, said through a spokesperson that it "has no involvement with either Sullivan campaign." The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee told ABC News it was "not involved with Dan J. Sullivan."
The timeline of how this developed:
Peltola finished first in Alaska's August primary with 49.5% of the vote, while Sen. Sullivan took second with 41.4%. Dan J. Sullivan placed third with 2.5%, and Democrat David Leslie finished with 1.1%. Leslie later exited the race, and Republican Gerald Heikes, who finished fifth with 1%, moved into the fourth spot on the November ballot. On the general election ballot, the incumbent is listed as Dan S. Sullivan, a registered Republican noted as the incumbent. The other Sullivan appears as Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. with no party affiliation.
Former Peltola staffer Elisa Rios told the Times that Peltola was not directly involved in the recruitment effort but was "definitely aware." The Times also reported that Rios later asked the newspaper to retract the statements she gave it, without giving a reason. Rios was fired from the campaign this past summer, days before the primary. The Peltola campaign told ABC News at the time that the "campaign has undergone staffing updates as we transition into the general election" and did not comment on Rios specifically.
President Donald Trump posted on social media Wednesday afternoon that Peltola should "suffer the Legal and Political consequences for what she has done," and that she and Dan J. Sullivan should be removed from the ballot. Trump also wrote that Peltola engaged in "election fraud." He wrote: "Dan Sullivan should be allowed to run without either Mary Peltola or FAKE Dan Sullivan on the Ballot."
Nate Adams, campaign spokesperson for incumbent Sen. Sullivan, said in a statement Wednesday that "Alaskans deserve the truth" and claimed Peltola and her campaign "have spent months gaslighting Alaskans" in an effort to "deceive" voters. The Alaska Department of Law said in a statement Wednesday that the Times' story confirmed its initial concerns about Dan J. Sullivan's candidacy but had no impact on the DOJ litigation. The department said placing candidates on the ballot is a matter of state law, not federal law, and that "The Alaska Supreme Court ordered the Division to place Daniel J. on the primary election ballot and he advanced to the general election under Alaska law as the third-place candidate."
The Department of Justice has an active criminal investigation into the circumstances surrounding Dan J. Sullivan's candidacy that dates back several months, ABC News has reported. The Trump administration filed a lawsuit last week to block certification of the Alaska Senate race if Sen. Sullivan narrowly loses, citing voter confusion with two Dan Sullivans on the ballot. District Judge Sharon Gleason on Monday signaled skepticism of the DOJ's legal strategy, pointing to the last-minute nature of the government's actions and the fact that Alaskans have already begun casting ballots.
Alaska courts evaluated the dispute over Dan J. Sullivan's candidacy and found nothing illegal about his bid to be on the ballot, even if it was not entirely in "good faith" or an attempt to "confuse and mislead" as the Trump administration and Republicans contend. Ballot-stacking tactics are common in politics and are widely considered legal, the New York Times reported. The Alaska Department of Elections did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
