Alaska Gov. Dunleavy Orders Investigation Into Senate Ballot Recruiting Scheme Gov. Mike Dunleavy directed Alaska's Department of Public Safety to investigate whether a Democratic effort to recruit a namesake candidate against Sen. Dan Sullivan violated state law, as federal prosecutors also pursue a criminal probe. Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy has ordered the state Department of Public Safety to investigate whether a Democratic effort to recruit a namesake candidate to run against Sen. Dan Sullivan violated Alaska law, saying criminal charges or civil action may be warranted. The directive followed a Wednesday New York Times report that described a months-long operation joined by staffers of Mary Peltola's Senate campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee to recruit people named Dan Sullivan to run against the incumbent Republican.Governor Orders Election InvestigationDunleavy called it an organized effort to manipulate Alaska's elections by recruiting candidates, including one with the same name as an incumbent U.S. Senator, to deliberately confuse voters and misdirect their votes. 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, Dunleavy said. The evidence will determine what happens next.Alaskans have a fundamental right to vote for the candidate they actually intend to support, the governor added. 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. Federal prosecutors are also conducting an aggressive criminal investigation into how the second Sullivan secured a spot on Alaska's ballot, two sources familiar with the matter told Fox News.Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, accused Peltola and national Democrats of running a secret operation to recruit the namesake candidate, calling it a scandal of the highest order during an interview on Fox News' Hannity with host Sean Hannity on Wednesday. Sullivan told Hannity that Peltola and her team, along with the highest levels of the DSCC, spent over a year scheming in a secret operation to trick Alaskans into throwing away their votes. It is remarkable, Sullivan said.The Democrats will do anything to gain power. They have been lying for almost a year about it, and now they are caught, he added. The Times reported that the recruitment scheme was joined by staffers of both Peltola's campaign and the DSCC, with veteran operative Jerid Kurtz making initial contact with Dan J. Sullivan, a retired teacher and former US Forest Service employee from the Southeast Alaska town of Petersburg.As Kurtz reportedly told Peltola aides earlier this year, Dan J. Sullivan had said he hated Trump and was willing to pursue a spoiler campaign if it was going to help Mary. Dan J. Sullivan has insisted he entered the race of his own volition.He describes himself as a moderate Republican, but the Times reported earlier this year that he took part in anti-Trump No Kings protests, supported Peltola in both her congressional bids in 2022 and 2024, and even has a magnet depicting notorious far-left revolutionary Che Guevara on his refrigerator. The Times report was based on interviews with a dozen sources with knowledge of, involved in, or approached for the recruiting effort.Elisa Rios, Peltola's longtime aide who was fired amid a staff shake-up shortly before the August primary election, told the Times that a Democratic operative from the Lower 48 had hunted for Dan Sullivans who could challenge the senator. The operative, an expert in secret ballot maneuvers brought in by the Democratic senatorial committee, found a willing participant in Dan J. Sullivan. Rios said Peltola was aware of the efforts but not directly involved, according to the article.Rios sought to retract her comments last week as the Times was preparing the article for publication, the Times reported. She did not respond to a request for an interview from the Daily News. The national Democratic committee denied participating in the effort to recruit spoilers in the Times story, but neither Peltola's campaign nor the committee addressed a detailed list of questions, the article said.Legal Battle Over Candidate BallotDan J. Sullivan registered as a Republican when he entered the race in May shortly before the state's filing deadline, fueling accusations from state and national Republicans who said he was running to deceive voters. In June of this year, Alaska's Division of Elections removed Dan J. Sullivan from the primary ballot, finding that a preponderance of the evidence showed his name and Republican party affiliation were chosen to potentially confuse voters.Days later, the Alaska Supreme Court ordered Decoy Dan back on the ballot, finding state law did not require candidates to run in good faith, and told the state Division of Elections to take less drastic steps to differentiate between the two Sullivans. He has maintained that he was not recruited by Democrats and is running because he disagrees with the senator's policies and actions.He earned 2.5 percent of the primary vote, enough support that Republicans believe his presence could sway the outcome of the race. He has since switched his party affiliation from Republican to undeclared, according to his request for an absentee ballot in the primary election, the Alaska Beacon reported Monday. He did not respond to a request for comment for this article and declined to comment in the Times article.Sullivan also called out what he described as Peltola's hypocrisy, saying the alleged scheme shows her total contempt for the people of Alaska. She has run a campaign about supposed corruption, he said. She is the corrupt one working with D.C. insiders to trick Alaskans. He added that Peltola and the DSCC think so little of Alaskans that they thought they could trick them.Sullivan argued that Peltola made a concerted effort to trick voters with another Dan Sullivan because her campaign had nothing to run on. This is what happens when you have a candidate like Peltola, far-left, who has got nothing to run on, Sullivan said. I have a much stronger record. We have a vision for Alaskans that the Alaskan people want, and when they recognize that, they are like, Shoot, I guess we have got to cheat.National Stakes in Senate RaceSullivan also noted that the alleged ballot scheme does not just apply to Alaska but to the entire country, as the state's Senate race holds significant power in determining which party will hold a majority in the Senate. This goes to the highest levels of the government, he said. The seat in Alaska could determine who controls the United States Senate. This is not just about Alaska, this is about America.We are going to make sure every single Alaskan knows about this, Sullivan said. We are campaigning 24/7, and we are telling every Alaskan, Do not let your vote be stolen. Peltola has dismissed reports of the alleged election scheme as just another distraction, arguing that the New York Times report was solely purposed to sell newspapers.Her campaign spokesperson Harry Child said in an email Wednesday that the campaign has no involvement with either Sullivan campaign, adding that like Mary, our campaign is focused on lowering costs and fixing the rigged system in D.C. Nate Adams, spokesperson for Sen. Sullivan's campaign, said in a prepared statement Wednesday that Alaskans deserve to know the truth.Adams said Mary Peltola, her campaign, and her senior advisors colluded with the DSCC, national Democrat lawyers, and Alaska Democrat operatives to recruit a candidate to deliberately deceive and confuse voters, and then repeatedly lied about it. We always knew this was a concerted effort to deceive voters, and Mary Peltola was hoping it would stay hidden until after the election, Adams said. Republican U.S. Sen.Lisa Murkowski, who has endorsed the incumbent Sullivan, said in a statement that ballot-stacking should have no place in our electoral process and that candidates should run on their policy ideas and accomplishments. By contrast, recruiting candidates to manipulate the field and influence voting outcomes is simply wrong, Murkowski said. President Donald Trump, an ally of Sullivan, last week ordered the Justice Department to file a lawsuit, according to the current article.However, the practice known as ballot-stacking is legal, if ethically questionable, and it was not immediately clear what other offenses Democrats may have committed. Dan J. Sullivan is set to appear on the Nov. 3 general election ballot alongside Peltola and Sen. Dan S. Sullivan.