2026-11-03 · contested story

Peltola allies recruited second Dan Sullivan to dilute GOP Senate vote

In the summer of 2025, operatives aligned with Alaska Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola launched what they internally called the 'ballot composition project'—a months-long effort to recruit spoiler candidates, including a retired Petersburg schoolteacher named Dan J. Sullivan whose name nearly matched incumbent Republican Sen. Dan S. Sullivan. A New York Times investigation published October 28, 2026, based on interviews with 12 people and dozens of text messages, revealed that Peltola's campaign and senior DSCC aides worked with a Democratic operative named Jerid Kurtz (who traveled under the alias 'Zane') to dilute the GOP incumbent's support. The revelations triggered a Trump-ordered DOJ lawsuit to block certification if Sullivan loses, a state criminal probe by Gov. Mike Dunleavy, congressional investigations, and FBI visits to donors—all amid a race that could decide Senate control. A federal judge dismissed the DOJ suit on November 1 as 'infeasible,' and the DOJ appealed.

How each side frames it

left
"If Peltola wins and her seat is taken away by Dunleavy or Republican senators, perhaps she deserves punishment for her hirelings' dumb stunt. But the real victims will be the Alaska voters whose intentions will be tossed aside as partisans wax indignant about a dirty trick that clearly did not work."
"When Trump's DOJ filed a potentially election-blocking lawsuit over the fact that there were two Dan Sullivans running as Alaska Republicans, the Times put its investigative efforts not into Trump's threat to democracy, but into attempting to document that he might have a point."
"How bad was this plot? In my view, it's scummy and antidemocratic conduct. But it's routine, as ratfucking goes. Indeed, Democrats quickly cited numerous examples of Republicans engaged in lots of similar chicanery."
"To paraphrase Churchill, the lawsuit is a nullity, wrapped in an absurdity, inside a press release."
"But the mere existence of this new lawsuit, which is known as United States v. Alaska, is an ominous sign that the Trump administration will use every tool in its shed to overturn Democratic victories in the upcoming election."
center
""I'd say that there's less than a 1% chance of Decoy Dan being a spoiler" if Republicans rank their preferences, John said."
"Snopes concluded that even if Peltola's team engaged in ballot-stacking, it's not unprecedented. Republicans have also employed the tactic during elections."
"What Peltola's campaign (allegedly) did might be partisan skullduggery, but it is probably not illegal, and no one is getting kicked off the ballot or going to prison over it."
"Senator Dan Sullivan told Fox News on Wednesday night that Peltola should "come clean" and described it as a scandal of the highest order... Peltola's team deny any wrongdoing."
""Not confusing at all," an early voter told NewsNation at a polling place in Alaska. "The way that they labeled everything on the ballot itself was very clear; you know who the incumbent was, you know who's not.""
right
""She and her team, and at the highest levels of the DSCC, spent over a year scheming in a secret operation to trick Alaskans to get them to throw away their vote.""
"Marc Elias, who peddled the infamous Steele Dossier in the hoax, again stands in the shadows of another scandal, with one of his law firm's attorneys named in The New York Times piece."
""Democrats are the party of fraud. Knowing they can't win on the issues, Democrats schemed to rig the U.S. Senate election in Alaska by deliberately confusing voters," Comer said in a statement."
"Dan J. Sullivan, aka "Decoy Dan," shares the same first and last name as incumbent Sen. Dan S. Sullivan (R-Alaska) and is listed on the ballot as a Republican despite voting against Donald Trump in each of the past three presidential elections."
"But last week, an exposé in the New York Times revealed that, in Alaska, the campaign of Democratic Senate nominee Mary Peltola had, with her knowledge, scoured the state for spoiler candidates in hopes of confusing voters and diluting her opponent's vote."

What each side left out

The right left out — covered by the Votebeat & NewsNation & FactCheck.org
The right left out — covered by the New York Magazine & ABC News & Balls and Strikes
The left left out — covered by the Inquirer.com & The Jerusalem Post & The National Desk
The left left out — covered by the Fox News & The Guardian
The center left out — covered by the The Federalist & Just The News
The right left out — covered by the CNN & Balls and Strikes & Mother Jones

What's actually true?

[verified] The NYT investigation was based on interviews with 12 people and dozens of text messages, plus documents prepared for a potential lawsuit against the campaign.
[verified] Former campaign manager Elisa Rios said Peltola was not directly involved but was 'definitely aware' of the effort, then later sought to retract her statements.
[verified] Daniel J. Sullivan received about 2.5% of the primary vote while Peltola won 49.5% and Sen. Sullivan 41.4%, making the spoiler's total far smaller than Peltola's margin.
[verified] The Alaska Supreme Court ruled in June that Daniel J. Sullivan could remain on the ballot, affirming a lower court that found no 'good-faith' requirement exists in law or the Constitution.
[verified] A federal judge (Sharon Gleason, an Obama appointee) dismissed the DOJ lawsuit, calling the requested remedy 'infeasible' and a violation of ballot secrecy; the DOJ appealed.
[verified] Trump said he personally ordered the DOJ to file the lawsuit, telling reporters 'I'm the one that said do it.'
[verified] A pro-Peltola super PAC (49th State PAC) paid about $87,000 to Wingspan Strategies, a firm co-owned by operative Jerid Kurtz; the PAC said it 'never hired or paid Jerid Kurtz.'
[verified] Ballot-stacking is common and legal and has been used by both parties, including Republicans backing an imprisoned Democrat (Eric Hafner) against Peltola in her 2024 House race.

The narrative clash

Whether ballot-stacking is illegal
Left: While not a particularly honorable campaign tactic, recruiting a candidate with a confusing name is not a crime.
Right: the situation amounted to "cheating" and "fraud" and that if those outcomes were true, it "certainly should be" considered illegal
Whether the second Sullivan could realistically change the outcome
Left: there are two reasons to doubt that not-Senator Sullivan will attract many voters who actually wanted to vote for the Republican... Alaska uses ranked-choice voting
Right: "The seat in Alaska could determine who controls the United States Senate. This isn't just about Alaska — this is about America." ... "Even 1, 2, or 3% could make the difference"
Whether Peltola knew about the scheme
Left: Peltola denied Thursday that she knew anything about the effort... "I knew nothing about any other candidate on the ballot except for me and the incumbent."
Right: "There is no way this went on for a year that they weren't informing her... She got caught lying, and she's still lying to the Alaskan people"
Legality — is recruiting a same-name candidate a crime or ordinary hardball?
Left: Ballot-stacking is legal and bipartisan; Alaska's courts have already refused to remove the second Sullivan, so there is no offense to prosecute.
Right: It was a deliberate scheme to rig a Senate election by confusing voters, and it warrants criminal and congressional investigation.
Effectiveness — were Alaska voters actually deceived?
Left: The trick failed on its own terms: the decoy drew about 2.5% in the primary, far less than Peltola's margin, and voters and experts say nobody was confused.
Right: A year-long covert operation tricked Alaskans into throwing away their votes against the incumbent.

108 sources analyzed

New York Magazine Inquirer.com Poynter New York Post Fox News Salon NBC News RealClearPolitics Just The News Fox News Vox CNN The Jerusalem Post New York Post Newsmax Vox CNN MS NOW Just The News Fox News The Boston Globe The Guardian Balls and Strikes New York Post The Daily Signal HuffPost NBC News The Independent Just The News The Federalist Common Dreams Global News Snopes.com The Dispatch Fox News Mother Jones NPR ABC News & Headlines – Australian Broadcasting Corporation Reason Magazine Fox News Mother Jones The Washington Post Votebeat New York Post The Federalist The New Republic CNN FactCheck.org Just The News The Daily Signal The Boston Globe Politico The Free Press New York Post Newsmax The Boston Globe Sky News Durango Herald Richmond Times-Dispatch National Review Mother Jones CBC Cleveland.com Boston Herald National Review Vox Semafor Jefferson City News Tribune Boston Herald The Daily Signal The New Republic PBS NewsHour ABC News - Breaking News, Latest News and Videos Boston Herald Newsmax The New Republic PBS NewsHour The Times The Dispatch The National Desk Salon CNN TV Insider Richmond Times-Dispatch Washington Examiner The New Republic NBC News BBC Investor's Business Daily The New York Sun Salon NBC News Time Magazine The Center Square National Review Vox PBS CBS News The Dispatch The Daily Signal MSNBC The Washington Post NewsNation The Dispatch The New York Sun MSNBC The Independent KCRA

Perspectivity reads the coverage — not just who published it.

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