Alaska’s Republican governor, Mike Dunleavy, announced Wednesday night that he is ordering an investigation into whether the Senate campaign of Democrat Mary Peltola should face criminal charges or civil penalties. The inquiry follows revelations regarding the campaign’s involvement in recruiting a retiree sharing the same name as the state’s Republican incumbent, Senator Dan Sullivan, to run in the race.
Governor Dunleavy stated on social media that deliberately misleading voters undermines the electoral process and that any individual or organization found to have violated the law must face accountability. Earlier in the day, President Trump called for Ms. Peltola’s criminal prosecution and removal from the ballot, characterizing the candidate-recruiting effort as voter fraud at the highest level during remarks on his way to a campaign rally in Ohio.
The ballot strategy involved senior advisers from both Ms. Peltola’s campaign and national Democratic Senate committees recruiting Daniel J. Sullivan, a retiree from a small Alaskan fishing village, to enter the contest against Senator Dan S. Sullivan. The retiree has previously stated he voted for Democrats in the past three presidential elections and supported Ms. Peltola in her prior congressional runs. Both Sullivans will appear on the November 2026 ballot alongside Ms. Peltola and a fourth candidate, Gerald Heikes.
Legal hurdles face any potential prosecution, however. Earlier this year, the Alaska Supreme Court ruled that state law and the U.S. Constitution do not empower officials to evaluate a candidate’s underlying motives when determining ballot access. Anchorage lawyer Scott Kendall noted that while the tactic resembles historical political maneuvering, Alaska’s ranked-choice voting system could mitigate voter confusion by ensuring that ballots listing both Sullivans ultimately transfer preferences to the incumbent.
Senator Lisa Murkowski, a moderate Alaska Republican supporting Senator Sullivan, condemned the maneuver. Alaskans deserve honesty, she said, describing the revelations as part of a pattern of deception. Meanwhile, Ms. Peltola brushed off the controversy during a campaign stop on Wednesday, dismissing the uproar as another distraction.
The Department of Justice previously filed a preemptive lawsuit directed by the Trump administration seeking to block certification of the Senate race should Ms. Peltola prevail. Chief Judge Sharon Gleason of the U.S. District Court in Alaska set an expedited schedule, giving federal lawyers until Thursday afternoon to respond to a motion to dismiss. While the initial lawsuit did not allege specific statutory violations, Attorney General Todd Blanche suggested in a television interview that such conduct ought to be illegal.
Democratic strategists and defenders of the campaign argued that ballot-stacking is a widespread bipartisan practice. Representatives for political committees highlighted instances of Republican-aligned super PACs supporting third-party or Democratic candidates in various state primaries, including Alaska. Veterans of past administrations noted that similar candidate-splitting tactics have deep roots in American political history dating back decades.
