Justice Department files amended complaint in Alaska Senate race probe

Gov. Dunleavy orders public safety investigation into namesake scheme

Justice Department officials said Thursday that the Times’ story expands its options for investigating the Senate race, and the department filed an amended complaint citing the new reporting. The filing comes days before Election Day in a contest that could determine which party controls the chamber next year.

The Times story detailed efforts by Democratic campaign operatives to recruit what Republicans have long alleged is a spoiler candidate whose presence on the ballot could confuse voters and siphon support from the GOP incumbent, Sen. Dan Sullivan. The two candidates on the general election ballot share the name Dan Sullivan. NPR has not independently confirmed the Times’ reporting, which is based on interviews and communications among Peltola’s attorneys and advisers, as well as senior aides at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

In the wake of the Times story, Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy said Wednesday night that he is directing the state’s Department of Public Safety to “investigate whether this scheme violated Alaska’s laws and whether criminal charges or civil action are warranted.” It is unclear what laws could have been violated.

Democrats have long denied involvement in the non-incumbent Sullivan’s candidacy, and both the Peltola campaign and the DSCC reiterated those denials after the Times story published. While campaigning Wednesday, Peltola called the story a distraction, according to Alaska Public Media. The non-incumbent Sullivan did not respond to Alaska Public Media’s requests for comment; he has previously said it was his decision to run for Senate.

Republicans have pounced on the news. “Mary Peltola and her campaign have spent months gaslighting Alaskans, denying a scheme they were running all along,” Nate Adams, a spokesperson for Sen. Sullivan, said in a statement. President Trump called it “Voter Fraud at the Highest Level” in an online post.

Trump’s Justice Department had already sought to intervene in the Senate race, asking a court last week to delay certification if the incumbent Sullivan loses by a small margin. The legal effort cited potential voter confusion stemming from the second Sullivan on the ballot. Election law experts had broadly criticized the DOJ’s case as weak, in part because the Constitution grants states control over elections.

The Sullivan candidacies had already been probed by state officials, but the Alaska Supreme Court ruled in June that the non-incumbent Sullivan could appear on the general election ballot. He advanced to the general election after Alaska’s nonpartisan primary, which sends the top four vote-getters to the fall ballot.

Trickery has been fairly common in politics, and it can be difficult to write laws that prevent shenanigans, according to Elaine Kamarck, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who has co-authored a book on dirty tricks in campaigns. “There’s just a lot of tricks,” Kamarck told NPR. “There’s old ones. There’s new ones. In this day and age, the internet makes it really easy to get the word out, both on a trick or, frankly, on a correction to a trick. But it’s pretty standard fare for campaigns.”

At times, major-party advisers will seek to boost third-party candidates in an effort to undercut the other major party’s candidate. Some voters who spoke with Alaska Public Media compared the new reporting about the Sullivan case to Republican groups’ spending in support of a Democrat who is a federal prisoner in New York but who is on Alaska’s U.S. House ballot.

Alaska Public Media found mixed reactions to the Times’ reporting, with some residents frustrated that it is drawing attention from other issues and others expressing skepticism that voters would be confused. The ballot notes which Sullivan is the Republican incumbent, and some experts have pointed out that all the news about the second Sullivan’s candidacy could reduce any voter confusion.

Because the state has a ranked-choice voting system for the general election, if voters are confused, they could rank both Sullivans and not rank Peltola. Whether voters want to keep the state’s unique election system is also on the general election ballot.