As government investigates Democrat involvement in Dan J. Sullivan candidacy, does collusion break the law?

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - Federal and state leaders are looking into Alaska’s Democratic Senate challenger Mary Peltola after the New York Times published a report alleging her campaign orchestrated the campaign of a candidate with an identical name as the Republican incumbent senator, Dan Sullivan.

Both President Donald Trump and Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy have floated criminal prosecutions.

“The evidence will determine what happens next,” Dunleavy said on social media, ordering the state to investigate whether the reported act “violated Alaska’s laws and whether criminal charges or civil action are warranted” Wednesday night.

“Anyone or any organization found to have broken the law must be held accountable.”

Alaska’s News Source has not been able to independently verify the claims reported by The New York Times, which are attributed to 12 former campaign staffers and the former campaign manager Elisa Rios, who before publication asked to have her statements redacted, which the Times declined.

The Peltola campaign has denied involvement in the Dan J. Sullivan campaign.

Austin McDaniel, Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Public Safety, expanded Thursday in a written statement, saying state troopers are “committed to the fair and impartial enforcement of Alaska’s criminal laws, including those that protect the integrity of our elections.

“We will work closely with our partners at the Alaska Department of Law to ensure that the facts are thoroughly examined and that anyone found to have violated state law is held accountable,” McDaniel said. “We recognize that Alaskans want and deserve fact-based answers surrounding these allegations, and we are committed to providing accurate information as the investigation progresses.”

Alaska’s News Source reached out to Dunleavy for comment Wednesday night and Thursday morning. Dunleavy’s office did not respond.

President Trump, too, has floated the idea of prosecuting Peltola.

“This is Voter Fraud at the Highest Level, and the Dumocrat Candidate, who was involved in the scheme, Mary Peltola, should be removed from the Ballot and prosecuted,” Trump said. “So should the FAKE Dan Sullivan. Nothing else will do!”

Trump calls the issue voter fraud, which the U.S. government’s webpage describes as “when someone illegally casts a vote in the name of a dead person or someone who has moved.”

However, legal experts say the Times report does not imply criminal wrongdoing, though the scrutiny will likely follow the elections results through its certification process.

Illegal or not?

Scott Kendall, an elections attorney, says that if details from the New York Times article are accurate, and no other information is revealed, the state has no grounds.

“I have to caveat all of this and say, I assume that this would be assuming that the facts in that article are true,” Kendall said. “But if you take for granted that those facts are true and that there are no other facts, then at least under Alaska election offenses ... I do not see that the law was broken.”

Explaining his answer, Kendall points to Alaska statute outlining how elections are conducted in the state.

Regardless of legality, he said the facts “appear very unsavory.”

“I think the very idea of simply trying to trick someone into wasting their vote, as opposed to supporting someone else, but truly trying to trick them, taking someone whose intention is to vote for the senator and getting them not to, I think that’s abhorrent,” he said.

Rep. Andrew Gray, D-Anchorage, and the House Judiciary Chair, called the investigation baseless.

“This has been litigated since June,” Gray said, referencing a series of hearings he conducted over the issue back in the summer, when the elections division removed Dan J. Sullivan from the ballot.

“All of this attention suddenly on Mary Peltola, four days before the election, is political in nature. It is designed to hurt her chances and I don’t think that [Dunleavy, Trump and departments investigating have] have good intent.”

Don Palmer, Senior Legal Fellow at the conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation, says the facts in the report don’t spell out anything illegal but warrant investigation.

“When you read those texts and emails, it’s pretty shocking that they’re very open about what they’re trying to do and so there may be evidence that witnesses were dissuaded from testifying or there was other intent involved or money that was transferred,” Palmer said.

The report doesn’t mention or allege coercion or bribery of a candidate, which is illegal, but Palmer said the report raises those questions.

Kendall, while speaking on the hypothetical, agreed that it would be criminal to act that way.

The scrutiny to Peltola comes as the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit asking the state to not certify the election because of voter confusion regarding the two Sullivans. The lawsuit says one outcome from a confused electorate would be if Sen. Sullivan did not win.

“There’s just no federal case here,” Kendall said. “That particular DOJ case, I would strongly predict is getting dismissed tomorrow [or] Monday. Very soon that case will go away.”

Palmer also said the case rested on uneasy foundation.

“They filed a lawsuit under the National Voter Registration Act, which — as most experts say — is not the perfect vehicle to vet the facts or to prevent a certification,” he said.

“I think what the Department was really trying to do is have a case that was out there that they could investigate the facts of this,” he added.

“Now, it’s all out in the open.”

Is planting a candidate novel?

Allan Lichtman is an American history scholar, but he’s more well-known as the “Nostradamus” of election predictions. He’s already predicted Peltola will win the race, and on the headlines surrounding Alaska’s Senate race, he said it’s not rare for candidates to be behind spoilers.

“Both parties are always accusing the other party of putting up these sham candidates,” he said, adding that he’s been involved in litigation on just that issue.

“I conclusively showed with my analysis that [Dan J. Sullivan’s] entry in the race had zero impact on the results and we won’t know that in Alaska until the results are in.”

Kendall said in Washington, a Republican operative was able to install an identically-named candidate in the 2024 election, but those candidates were removed from the ballot for having bad faith under their state law. The same test was applied to Dan J. Sullivan when he was temporarily removed from the ballot by the state but did not stick because Alaska does not have the same law.

Lichtman said the Petersburg’s Sullivan’s appearance does not “have any influence on this race,” but adds the margins could be tight enough and if more information came out about, it could be the difference between winning and losing.

“I’ve looked at those who have expertise in Alaska voting, and most of them say this race is baked in,” he said. “People have already made up their minds but in a close race, who knows? A point or two could make a difference.”

The report

The New York Times report claims that members of Mary Peltola’s Senate campaign reportedly tried to recruit people named Dan Sullivan to run in the state’s Senate race since the Summer of 2025 to confuse voters.

“The Alaskans for Mary campaign has no involvement with either Sullivan campaign,” a spokesperson told Alaska’s News Source in a written statement Wednesday.

Notably, the article does not mention Amber Lee, whom national Republican groups call the “smoking gun” to any connections between Dan J. Sullivan and a democratic operation. Dan J. Sullivan confirmed her involvement in his candidacy.

Lee, of Amber Lee Strategies, has worked for several Democratic candidates in Anchorage and state legislative seats and has publicly expressed support for Peltola. She also sits on the board of the 907 Initiative, an organization which has condemned Sen. Dan S. Sullivan and former Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson during his administration.

“907 Initiative had no involvement in Dan J Sullivan’s candidacy,” Aubrey Wieber, President of the 907 Initiative, told Alaska’s News Source in September. “Amber is a board member but does not direct independent expenditure activity.”

“The fact that a political consultant has done prior political consulting is not a legitimate reason for your office to investigate me and demand I supply you with an affidavit under penalty of perjury on less than 48 hours’ notice,” Sullivan wrote in a letter to the lieutenant governor prior to being removed from the ballot, only to be reinstated later by the State Supreme Court.

Lee has never spoken with Alaska’s News Source, despite multiple attempts to get in touch with her, including Thursday. Dan J. Sullivan has seldom spoken to Alaska’s News Source, even after a reporter visited his home in Petersburg, declining to talk about his candidacy and calling efforts to interview him “aggressive.”

Sullivan did not respond to a Thursday phone call.

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