Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola has denied knowing anything about an alleged scheme to recruit a second candidate named Dan Sullivan to run in Alaska's Senate race, as the Trump administration escalates a criminal investigation into the matter days before the midterm vote.
"I knew nothing about any other candidate on the ballot except for me and the incumbent," Peltola told voters Thursday. "I am not interested in tricking voters." The controversy stems from reporting that Peltola's team and aides at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee worked to recruit Dan J. Sullivan, a retired teacher in a remote fishing village, to run against incumbent Republican Senator Dan S. Sullivan — a report Peltola's campaign and the retired teacher have both denied.
Alaska's ranked-choice voting system means voters could rank both Sullivans if confused at the ballot box, and the Justice Department has asked a federal judge to order state election officials to segregate and preserve every ballot that ranks the retired teacher ahead of Monday's deadline. Alaska's Republican governor, Mike Dunleavy, has separately ordered a state inquiry, and prosecutors say both civil and criminal investigations are underway, though no charges had been filed as of Friday evening.
Legal experts are divided on how far the allegations could go. Scott Kendall, an attorney who has worked on past Alaska Senate campaigns, told the BBC he was skeptical the conduct described broke any law, since Alaska has no good-faith requirement barring spoiler candidates. He said the bigger risk to Peltola was reputational rather than legal, absent evidence of a campaign-finance violation.
The race, rated a toss-up by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, could decide which party controls the Senate. Trump is scheduled to campaign at rallies in Kansas and Iowa this weekend as both parties make their final push before polls open nationwide on November 3.