Alaska Governor Orders Criminal Probe Into Peltola Senate Campaign Over Same-Name Candidate Claim

Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy, a Republican, has announced a criminal investigation into the Senate campaign of Democrat Mary Peltola. The move follows a published report alleging that her campaign tried to confuse voters by recruiting a candidate who shares a name with her opponent.

Dunleavy said on social media that he was directing the state's department of public safety to examine "whether this scheme violated Alaska's laws and whether criminal charges or civil action are warranted."

The governor's order came after the New York Times reported that a former Peltola staffer said the campaign had recruited people named Dan Sullivan to run against the Republican incumbent, also named Dan Sullivan. According to the account, the goal was to deliberately confuse voters.

The newspaper based its report on interviews with Peltola's former campaign manager and a longtime aide, along with several other people who took part in the plan or were told about it. It also said it had seen text messages and documents that shed light on the effort. Those materials, it reported, show that Peltola's campaign staff and senior aides at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) devised the plan to encourage other people named Dan Sullivan to run.

President Donald Trump also weighed in after the report, calling for Peltola to be "removed from the Ballot and prosecuted." He had earlier criticized the presence of two candidates named Dan Sullivan on the ballot and accused Democrats of putting an "imposter" in the race.

Peltola's campaign had previously denied any role in encouraging or soliciting Dan J Sullivan to run against Dan S Sullivan. Dan J Sullivan is a former educator with no political experience, according to a May report from the Anchorage Daily News.

Dunleavy said the Times report "reveals disturbing new evidence of an organized effort to manipulate Alaska's elections." He added that "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," the governor wrote. "Anyone or any organization found to have broken the law must be held accountable."

The investigation is at an early stage, and the governor's announcement did not itself establish that any law was broken. Dunleavy asked investigators to determine whether the alleged conduct violated state law and whether criminal charges or civil action would be appropriate.