Election/Election Integrity

Alaska Governor Orders Investigation Into Mary Peltola’s Ballot Scheme

United States Senate - Office of Dan Sullivan, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Republican Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy directed state officials Thursday to open an investigation into Democratic Alaska Senate nominee Mary Peltola’s alleged ballot scheme.

Peltola’s team and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) collaborated to recruit Republican candidates to join the ballot to take votes away from Republican Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan, a New York Times review found. Dunleavy said he directed the Department of Public Safety to investigate whether the scheme violated Alaska’s laws and if criminal charges are warranted.

“I am therefore directing the Department of Public Safety to investigate whether this scheme violated Alaska’s laws and whether criminal charges or civil action are warranted. The evidence will determine what happens next,” Dunleavy said on X. “Alaskans have a fundamental right to vote for the candidate they actually intend to support. Deliberately tricking voters into casting their ballots for someone else strikes at the integrity of our elections.”

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

Aides from the DSCC reportedly introduced Democratic operative Jerid Kurtz to former Peltola campaign manager Elisa Rios and former chief of staff Anton McParland. Kurtz reportedly traveled to Alaskan communities to recruit residents to run as Republicans. Former schoolteacher Dan J. Sullivan, who supported Peltola’s candidacy, agreed to run.

Alaska’s open voting system made this scheme possible, given that candidates can claim any party affiliation on the ballot without being vetted by parties themselves. Republicans backed an effort to help a candite serving time in a New York prison stay on the ballot when Peltola ran for reelection to the House in 2024.

Matthew Salisbury of Anchorage told the Times that he got a call from an unfamiliar number with an Ohio area code. The person, who identified himself as Zane, met with him at a pub and urged him to run for Senate. When the Times showed Salisbury a photograph of Kurtz, Salisbury confirmed that Kurtz was the person in question.

Peltola’s campaign staff had dinner with Jim Lottsfeldt, a local political consultant, who agreed to financially help the long-shot Senate candidates with outside spending, given that he works with super PACs aligned with Peltola. Lottsfeldt denied any knowledge or involvement in the effort.

Filings from The Alaska Values PAC, a super PAC supporting Republican Alaska Senate candidate Gerald Heikes, show that Lottsfeldt requested advertising time from Alaska radio stations in October. He did not explain to the Times why his name showed up in the filings.

Text messages showed that members of the DSCC and Peltola’s campaign considered creating a MAGA Party, although the plans never came to fruition, according to the Times.

Peltola’s campaign told the Daily Caller News Foundation they had no involvement with the other Sullivan’s campaign.

“The Alaskans for Mary campaign has no involvement with either Sullivan campaign. Like Mary, our campaign is focused on lowering costs and fixing the rigged system in DC,” the campaign said Wednesday.

Democratic strategist Amber Lee authored a press release announcing the other Sullivan’s candidacy, metadata reviewed by the DCNF showed. Lee told The Hill in January that she believed there was a good chance Peltola could defeat Sullivan and previously hoped Peltola would run for governor.

Division of Elections Director Carol Beecher informed Sullivan in an Aug. 26 letter that his declaration of candidacy “was not filed in order to declare an actual good-faith candidacy,” but rather to confuse voters into voting for the wrong Sullivan. After Sullivan appealed the ruling, Superior Court Judge Thomas Matthews ruled he could remain on the ballot for the state’s primary.

The Alaska Supreme Court overturned that ruling in a June 30 decision and allowed the other Sullivan to be on the ballot. The DSCC and Peltola’s campaign celebrated the high court’s decision, according to the Times.