Alaska Governor Probes Alleged 'Decoy Dan Sullivan' Election Scheme

Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy announced that his administration is investigating allegations of a scheme to recruit a second candidate named Dan Sullivan into the state's pivotal Senate race, warning that the incident exposes a vulnerability in Alaska's election system. The reported effort, which surfaced in recent reporting by The New York Times, allegedly involved operatives connected to Democratic nominee Mary Peltola.

Dunleavy told Fox News Digital that newly uncovered evidence, not available to state officials during their initial challenge to the second Sullivan's candidacy this past summer, suggests a deeper issue than initially understood. He stated that the state's relatively new ranked-choice voting system was a key factor that enabled the controversy.

"This would have never happened if we didn't have ranked-choice voting," Dunleavy said. "If this was a historical primary, a primary that our fathers and grandfathers had, this individual [retired schoolteacher Dan Sullivan of Petersburg] would not have gotten out of the primary."

The governor cited reports indicating that the Petersburg Sullivan initially denied being recruited, but The New York Times found evidence that operatives linked to Peltola had worked to recruit individuals named Dan Sullivan from across the state to potentially act as spoilers. "We're compelled to do an investigation on behalf of the people of Alaska, because as they say in Alaska, which is a big fish state, if you can smell the fish way far from the dock, you've got a real problem," Dunleavy stated. "And so, this really does stink."

Alaska's election system advances the top four finishers from a nonpartisan primary to a general election where voters rank candidates by preference. Dunleavy argued that traditional party primaries would have prevented the second Sullivan from appearing on the November ballot. "Our job as executives are to make sure that we can provide our people with an election that everyone could look at it and say that was done with integrity. And right now this cast, unfortunately, a pall over all of this," he added.

The state's initial investigation in June, following the emergence of the Petersburg Sullivan, led to the state Supreme Court, which ultimately allowed both candidates named Dan Sullivan to appear on the ballot, with Senator Dan Sullivan marked as the incumbent. Dunleavy recounted that the Petersburg Sullivan had initially sought to list his name as Daniel S. Sullivan, which matched the middle initial of the incumbent senator, and that his website bore significant similarities.

"We knew there was a problem, but the courts had decided. And then of course, the article comes out in the Times and there's a whole list of issues that we were never privy to," Dunleavy said. "There's a lot more smoke and a lot of fishy smell after this article came out."

Elections in Alaska are overseen by the lieutenant governor. Dunleavy confirmed that his office is investigating potential violations of law or civil violations. Peltola's campaign has denied any involvement with either Sullivan campaign and has dismissed the controversy as a distraction. However, The New York Times reported that operatives connected to her campaign participated in efforts to recruit spoiler candidates.

Former FEC Chair Hans von Spakovsky suggested that investigators should examine whether individuals paid by Peltola or another political organization provided any undisclosed in-kind services to the Petersburg Sullivan. He noted that such services are considered campaign contributions and that failure to disclose them, or exceeding contribution limits, could constitute violations of federal law, potentially escalating to criminal charges if done knowingly and intentionally. Von Spakovsky cited a past FEC case involving Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign accepting campaign assistance from Australian Labor Party members whose expenses were paid by the foreign organization.

Dunleavy indicated that the investigation would continue as long as necessary, expressing concern that such alleged tactics could foreshadow future attempts to manipulate elections through misleading candidacies and other means.