Exclusive: Peltola speaks with KTUU on federal probe into election conspiracy accusations
Mary Peltola says she would be ‘happy to fire’ again her former campaign manager who alleged conspiracy to confuse voters in Senate race
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - With Alaska’s midterm election just days away, U.S. Senate candidate Mary Peltola is under a national microscope as a federal criminal probe into allegations that a former staff member made were revealed this week.
On Wednesday, an explosive New York Times article was published alleging that her team orchestrated a campaign to stack the ballot against her political opponent, Sen. Dan Sullivan.
Separately, the Justice Department — as part of a lawsuit it filed last week — asked a judge to order that state elections officials isolate ballots ranking Dan J. Sullivan to investigate potential voter “confusion” with the senator.
At a rally event Friday evening in Anchorage, Peltola took a few minutes to speak with Alaska’s News Source before taking the stage in front of an audience.
When asked if it was possible that anyone in her campaign was potentially part of the conspiracy to plant Petersburg candidate Dan J. Sullivan on the Alaska ballot, she said she “honestly [has] no idea.”
“This is offensive to me on a number of different levels. First of all, this is Alaska; we’re not in the business of tricking each other up here,” she said.
“Second thing is, I know I can win this race. I’ve known since day one, I’ve been ahead of Dan Sullivan in the polls since before I even got in this race.”
The New York Times article named former campaign manager Elisa Rios, who alleged that Peltola was “definitely aware” of the project to recruit candidates named Dan Sullivan to enter the race in order to create voter confusion, but not directly involved.
When asked about her reaction to seeing Rios named in the article, Peltola had a biting retort.
“Clearly, folks are gone, they’re gone for a good reason,” she said. “If I could fire them again, I’d be happy to fire them again.”
In the following days after the Times story was published, Gov. Mike Dunleavy suggested that the election certification could be blocked pending the results of the federal criminal investigation.
In response, Peltola said that she believes in the rule of law and the state’s ability to administer free and fair elections.
“The other thing I think is interesting is, in my opinion, every accusation is a confession,” she said Friday, referring to Republican critics. “Every single accusation that’s been made of me is a confession on their side.
“I think this is a real reflection on how deeply scared they are.”
Peltola said she is still learning the details of the federal investigation.
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