Mary Peltola denies report her campaign recruited the second Dan Sullivan as Trump calls for prosecution

Five days before Election Day, Alaska’s U.S. Senate race has turned into a fight over a name. A New York Times investigation published Wednesday reported that aides to Mary Peltola, the Democratic nominee, worked with national Democrats to recruit a second candidate named Dan Sullivan to pull votes from Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan. Peltola’s campaign denies it, and President Donald Trump has called for her to be prosecuted.

The race is one of the most closely watched contests of the Nov. 3 midterms. Democrats are targeting Alaska as they try to win back the Senate, where Republicans hold 53 seats to Democrats’ 47, according to The Guardian.

What the New York Times reported

According to The Hill’s summary, the Times report cites 12 sources and refers to text messages and documents. It says Peltola campaign aides, the campaign’s lawyers and staff at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) were involved in pushing other candidates to run, including Daniel J. Sullivan, a retiree from Petersburg in southeast Alaska.

The Guardian, summarizing the same report, said Democrats began weighing ways to get a spoiler candidate on the ballot in the summer of 2025. The DSCC introduced the Peltola campaign to an Ohio-based political operative who specialized in such efforts, which the Times described as typically legal. The report also says campaign officials discussed creating a right-wing party to field a candidate, an idea that did not pan out.

One of the Times’ sources was Elisa Rios, Peltola’s former campaign manager, who was fired in August. “Alaskan voters need to know,” she told the paper, which added that she later tried to retract her interview, The Guardian reported.

Peltola campaign and DSCC deny involvement

Both the campaign and the DSCC reject the report. “The Alaskans for Mary campaign has no involvement with either Sullivan campaign,” the Peltola campaign said in a statement quoted by The Hill and USA Today. It added that the campaign “did not recruit any candidates into the race.”

A DSCC spokesperson told The Guardian it “is not involved with Dan J Sullivan” and said Republicans have their own history of backing spoiler candidates.

Trump calls for charges

Trump shared the Times story on Truth Social and called it proof of “election fraud,” The Guardian reported. Speaking to reporters on Oct. 28, he went further. “We caught them cold, and Mary Peltola should resign from the race,” he said, according to USA Today. “I think she should be prosecuted criminally for what she did.”

USA Today noted that Trump did not name a statute he believes was violated. Attorney General Todd Blanche said on Fox News that the recruitment “should be illegal,” but he also did not identify a crime and pointed instead to the administration’s civil lawsuit.

Sen. Sullivan’s campaign spokesperson, Nate Adams, said Peltola’s campaign had “spent months gaslighting Alaskans.”

The Justice Department lawsuit

Last week, the Justice Department sued in federal court to block certification of the Senate result if Sullivan loses, citing possible voter confusion over the two names. USA Today reported that the suit asks the court to stop Alaska from certifying “pending an investigation to determine whether votes cast for Daniel J. Sullivan were meant to be cast for Senator Sullivan.” Trump has said he ordered the suit. Peltola’s campaign has asked the judge to dismiss the case, and the judge has expedited the litigation, The Hill reported.

Why there are two Dan Sullivans on the ballot

State election officials tried to keep the second Sullivan off the ballot before the August primary, but the Alaska Supreme Court ruled he could run. He finished among the top four in the nonpartisan primary. On the general election ballot, the senator is listed as the Republican incumbent with his middle initial “S.” Reports don’t fully agree on exactly how the challenger’s name appears. The Guardian lists him as “Sullivan, Daniel J. Jr.”

At a rally in Alaska this month, Trump urged supporters to vote for the “real” Dan Sullivan.

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