Texts show Peltola team helped recruit second Dan Sullivan for Alaska ballot

The Democratic campaign for Mary Peltola was involved in efforts to place a candidate named Dan J. Sullivan on the Alaska Senate ballot, according to a Wednesday report by The New York Times. The newspaper obtained text messages exchanged among members of Peltola’s team as they sought to recruit a person with the same name as the Republican incumbent, Dan Sullivan. The goal, per the report, was to introduce a third candidate with the same name to the ranked vote ballot.

The recruitment efforts resulted in the candidacy of a retired schoolteacher from Petersburg, a small fishing community in southeast Alaska. This candidate, Dan J. Sullivan, cleared the state’s open primary in August. He is now one of four names on the ballot for the general election scheduled for next Tuesday.

The presence of the second Sullivan has triggered a legal challenge from the White House. President Donald Trump directed the Department of Justice to file a lawsuit last week. The suit seeks to prevent the certification of a potential Peltola victory. It cites the inclusion of the other Sullivan on the ballot as a factor that could complicate the tally.

Trump posted on his social media site on Wednesday that he expects legal and political consequences for the Democrat. “Mary Peltola should suffer the Legal and Political consequences for what she has done,” the president wrote. His campaign has framed the ballot situation as a major point of contention leading up to the election.

Peltola’s campaign has maintained a distance from the other candidate. In a statement issued Wednesday, the team said it “has no involvement with either Sullivan campaign.” This mirrors a statement the campaign released in June when the incumbent first questioned the other Sullivan’s candidacy. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, or DSCC, issued a similar denial, stating in a Wednesday statement that the organization is “not involved with Dan J. Sullivan.”

The Times report notes that DSCC staffers were included in the text messages with the Peltola campaign regarding the second Sullivan. This contrasts with the public denials from both groups. Nate Adams, a spokesperson for the incumbent’s campaign, said in a statement that Peltola, her staff, and senior advisers “colluded with the DSCC, national Democrat lawyers and Alaska Democrat operatives to recruit candidates to deliberately confuse and deceive voters.”

Dan J. Sullivan has consistently denied that he is running at the behest of Democrats. In June, following his announcement, he told reporters he had “Zero, none, zilch” contact with Peltola’s campaign. He did not respond to a message seeking comment on the new report on Wednesday. A top state elections official had initially ruled him ineligible, arguing his candidacy was “filed with a purpose to confuse or mislead.” The Alaska Supreme Court overturned that ruling, determining he met the constitutional requirements of age, citizenship, and residency.

Legal experts suggest the new evidence will not alter the Department of Justice’s current lawsuit. Derek Muller, a law professor at Notre Dame, described the recruitment as a “dirty campaign trick.” He noted that while the Alaska Supreme Court should perhaps have removed the candidate, the decision now rests with voters rather than the courts. As of Monday, 46,204 ballots had been cast in Alaska, according to data compiled by the Associated Press.

The ballot lists the incumbent as Dan Sullivan, the Republican. The other candidate appears as Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., with no party affiliation. The report is based partly on interviews with Elisa Rios, Peltola’s former campaign manager. Rios was fired in August during a staff shake-up and reportedly tried to retract her comments to the newspaper last week.

Alaska voters will cast ballots on November 3. The race could determine which party controls the U.S. Senate. The other Sullivan, who is running again in the U.S. House race, is also on that ballot. He is one of the candidates whose presence on the ballot was questioned in a 2024 lawsuit by the state Democratic Party.