News of a New York Times investigation into Democratic efforts to recruit a duplicate candidate named Dan Sullivan to Alaska's U.S. Senate race has drawn mixed reactions from voters across the state.
Some dismissed the allegations as unsurprising, while others criticized the reported effort as an example of dirty politics.
The Times story was published less than a week before Election Day, with early voting already underway. Alaska’s U.S. Senate race is one of a few nationwide that could decide which party controls the chamber.
According to the Times, Democratic candidate Mary Peltola’s campaign was involved in an effort to recruit a second Dan Sullivan to the race to peel votes away from incumbent Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan. Campaign aides reportedly instructed a Peltola staffer to find as many people as possible named Dan Sullivan in Alaska. Retired teacher Dan J. Sullivan of Petersburg later announced his candidacy.
Peltola’s campaign has denied involvement and Peltola called the story a distraction while campaigning in Soldotna on Wednesday. Petersburg Sullivan did not respond to requests for comment on Wednesday but has previously said he had no connection to Peltola.
The Times report prompted Republican U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who endorsed Sen. Sullivan but supported Peltola in a previous campaign, to issue a statement calling for the truth from Peltola.
“Alaskans deserve the honest truth from Mary and her campaign—what has been revealed is a pattern of lies and coverups and a culture of deception that belongs nowhere in our elections or among our elected officials,” she wrote.
Nate Adams, spokesman for Sen. Sullivan's campaign, also said in a statement that Alaskans deserve the truth.
"Mary Peltola, her campaign, and her senior advisors colluded with the (Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee), national Democrat lawyers, and Alaska Democrat operatives to recruit candidates to deliberately deceive and confuse voters, and then repeatedly lied about it," Adams said.
Republican President Donald Trump — who has dubbed the Petersburg candidate “Decoy Dan” — demanded Peltola drop out of the race and be prosecuted, but did not explain for what crime.
But some Alaska voters said the Times report did little to change their views.
Keven Kleweno, a registered Republican planning to vote for Peltola, said he was unsurprised by the news, given Republicans’ prior claims of Democratic involvement in Dan J. Sullivan’s campaign.
“That's nothing that we haven't heard before,” he said.
But at the same time, he suggested that Elisa Rios, Peltola’s former campaign manager who spoke to the Times about the campaign’s involvement, was a disgruntled ex-employee who “didn’t like being laid off.”
“I just feel it's another way to, you know, slander Peltola and try to make sure Dan worthless Sullivan is reelected,” he said.
Adam Lees of Anchorage is registered nonpartisan and supports Peltola. He said his opinions of the Senate race were already “mostly baked in.” Still, he said, the reported effort to stack the ballot is “not the best look.”
“It does give — I think as some of the kids would describe it — icky vibes,” he said. “But at the same time, I think voters are intelligent and can figure out how to rank and can figure out which Dan Sullivan is their person.”
Amber McClelland, a registered Democrat and former Libertarian living in Anchorage, said she agreed. Politics wasn’t always this “dirty,” she said — recruiting a candidate just to draw votes away from an opponent “should not be a thing.”
“It's kind of messed up,” she said. “But in the past, Republicans have done everything that they can do to win, including cheat.”
Several voters compared the Peltola campaign’s link to the same-name challenger to Republican groups’ spending in support of Eric Hafner, a federal prisoner in New York who was the lone Democrat to advance in Alaska’s U.S. House race. Democrats have instead backed an independent candidate, Bill Hill.
In Petersburg, residents who have known Dan J. Sullivan for decades had a hard time reconciling the picture the Times painted with the man they know. Erica Kludt-Painter said she doesn’t believe he worked behind the scenes with the Democrats to stack the ballot.
“I just don't see him being involved in a national conspiracy,” she said. “I'm sorry, I just don't. I know him to be a man of integrity who cares about his community and the people in it.”
Petersburg Vice Mayor Jeigh Stanton-Gregor said the community knows Dan J. Sullivan is a man of “high character,” and he doesn’t see the Times story changing anyone’s opinion of him. He said he was disappointed in the article.
“I just wish at this stage of the game, the New York Times was talking about substantive issues that really impact people in Petersburg's lives and Alaskans' lives, whether it be gas prices, foreign wars, etc,” he said. “Things that have real-world consequences, as opposed to a distant three- or four-place candidate.”
D.J. McBride, an independent voter living in Willow planning to vote for Peltola, was taken aback by the suggestion that Alaskans couldn’t distinguish the senator from the retired teacher.
“Both sides play pretty dirty pool, and if you're stupid enough that you can't tell the difference between an incumbent and a non-incumbent, I don't have any patience for you,” she said. “Alaskans are smarter than that.”
Fairbanks doctoral student Eric Evans said he was frustrated the controversy was drawing attention away from more important issues, such as the war with Iran. He said he had yet to make a final decision on who to vote for in the race.
“I think it's really, really unfortunate that the state Supreme Court of Alaska ruled on this months ago, and that this is what we're talking about at this critical point in time, when, really, we should be talking about, how are we going to solve things?” he said.
Geoff Kennedy, a retiree living in Anchorage who is registered as nonpartisan, said it was “absurd” to think Alaskans would be confused by the two Dan Sullivans. He said he didn’t expect the controversy to have much impact on the race.
“It doesn't look like it's going to make that much of a difference,” he said.
Alaska Public Media's Liz Ruskin contributed to this report.
