Report Says Peltola Aides Helped Recruit Alaska’s Second Dan Sullivan
A New York Times report says Democratic operatives helped put a second Dan Sullivan on Alaska's Senate ballot. Peltola's campaign and the DSCC deny it.
Aides to Mary Peltola, the Democratic nominee for US Senate in Alaska, and senior officials at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) took part in an effort to put a second candidate named Dan Sullivan on the ballot against Republican Sen. Dan S. Sullivan, The New York Times reported Wednesday, according to accounts of the report by Fox News and other outlets. Peltola’s campaign and the DSCC, the party’s Senate campaign arm, both denied any involvement. The report lands less than a week before the Nov. 3 election and while a Justice Department lawsuit over the same candidacy is pending in federal court.
What the report says
According to Fox News’ summary of the Times story, the effort was known internally as the “ballot composition project.” It allegedly began in the summer of 2025 with an instruction to a Peltola staffer to find as many Alaskans named Dan Sullivan as possible. The Times based its reporting on interviews with 12 people and dozens of text messages, Fox News said.
One source was Elisa Rios, Peltola’s former campaign manager, who was fired in August. Fox News reported that Rios described the project to the Times and said Peltola was “definitely aware” of it, though not directly involved. Rios later tried to take back her statements, but the Times said it had never agreed that the interviews were off the record, according to Fox News. The Times also reported that senior DSCC officials joined regular discussions about the project.
The second candidate, Daniel J. Sullivan, is a retired teacher from Petersburg, a town in southeast Alaska, who entered the race at the end of May. He appears on the ballot as “Sullivan, Daniel J. Jr.”
Denials and reactions
Peltola’s campaign said “Alaskans for Mary” has “no involvement with either Sullivan campaign,” Fox News reported. The DSCC said it “is not involved with Dan J. Sullivan” and accused Republicans of recruiting candidates of their own.
Republicans seized on the report. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said Peltola “will be held accountable this election for her dishonesty and deception,” according to Fox News. A senior Justice Department official told the network the report was the “biggest we told-you-so moment.”
Daniel J. Sullivan has said little publicly. In August he told the Times, as quoted by MS NOW, that he hoped voters were “informed enough to know the difference between an incumbent senator and a teacher.”
The Justice Department lawsuit
The report adds fuel to a legal fight already underway. On Oct. 23, the Justice Department sued the State of Alaska in the US District Court for the District of Alaska, MS NOW reported, after President Donald Trump previewed the action on social media.
According to Alaska’s News Source, the suit asks the state not to certify any Senate result that could have been affected by voter confusion if the incumbent loses, while the department investigates whether votes for Daniel J. Sullivan were meant for the senator. It also seeks procedures to determine the outcome as if the second Sullivan were not on the ballot. The complaint argues his candidacy was meant to help Peltola by drawing votes from the senator and says he worked with a political consultant who has backed Democratic candidates.
Critics in both parties objected. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, Alaska’s other Republican senator, said the department “should never have filed this lawsuit,” Alaska’s News Source reported. A Peltola spokesperson called it “a despicable political threat to overturn an election.” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told reporters the department does not intend to improperly interfere with elections or certification.
Peltola’s campaign and the DSCC, both represented by Democratic election lawyer Marc Elias, have asked to join the case and to have it dismissed. MS NOW reported that their filing calls the department’s reading of the ballot “irreconcilable” with Alaska’s ranked-choice voting procedures. Alaska’s News Source reported that the state has also moved to dismiss the suit.
Background and what comes next
Daniel J. Sullivan’s place on the ballot has been contested for months. Key moments include:
- June 15: The state Division of Elections removed him from the ballot. Among its reasons, it said his name and party choice appeared meant to confuse voters and that he had used a consultant with ties to Peltola, according to Alaska’s News Source.
- Court fight: A state Superior Court and then the Alaska Supreme Court restored him to the ballot, one day before the ballot-printing deadline.
- August primary: Peltola received 49.54% of the vote, the senator 41.40% and Daniel J. Sullivan 2.47%.
Under Alaska’s system, the top four primary finishers advance to a ranked-choice general election. Voters are also deciding Ballot Measure 2, which would repeal ranked-choice voting; Trump has urged a yes vote, Fox News reported. Nearly 60,000 early votes had been cast by the time the Times story was published.
The Times’ account has not been independently confirmed by the other outlets that reported on it, and the people it names deny wrongdoing. MS NOW rates the race a toss-up. The court has not yet ruled on whether it can block certification.
