President Donald Trump spoke to reporters Wednesday after The New York Times reported that Democratic staffers were behind the effort to get another Dan Sullivan on the ballot in the Alaska Senate election. Trump said: “I think the fake Dan Sullivan and Mary Peltola, number one they should be taken off the ballot.” He added, “Number two they should be prosecuted.”
[NOTE: According to the Times report, Peltola campaign staffers were told to “find as many people named Dan Sullivan in Alaska as you can,” ahead of the race between Peltola, a Democrat, and incumbent Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan. Daniel J. Sullivan, a second candidate with the same name, is also on the ballot.]
Trump: “Mary Peltola should resign from the race. I think she should be prosecuted criminally.” https://t.co/rS8Dobq667
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 28, 2026
Vice President JD Vance told reporters at Joint Base Andrews on Thursday, en route to a rally in Texas: “Well, I think we should certainly look into whether she committed election fraud.”
Vance said Peltola “has pretended that she has had nothing to do” with the ballot situation, adding: “With the fact that they have put a fraudulent person, a person explicitly designed to confuse Alaska voters on the ballot.”
Unlike Trump, Vance stopped short of calling for prosecution, saying: “Whether it’s criminal or not, she certainly has committed, I think, a great moral failing. And hopefully the voters of Alaska punish her.”
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY), opened an investigation Thursday. “Democrats are the party of fraud,” Comer said. He called the alleged scheme “dirty politics” and a “crime” in a NewsNation interview. Comer asked to interview Peltola’s former campaign manager, Elisa Rios, on Nov. 5 and Democratic operative Jerid Kurtz on Nov. 6.
Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy, a Republican, wrote on X: “Alaskans have a fundamental right to vote for the candidate they actually intend to support.” He added: “Deliberately tricking voters into casting their ballots for someone else strikes at the integrity of our elections.”
Today’s New York Times reporting reveals disturbing new evidence of 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. The Alaska Division of Elections investigated these very concerns in June of this year. The new reporting substantially supports the Division’s findings.
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.
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.
— Governor Mike Dunleavy (@GovDunleavy) October 29, 2026
The Peltola campaign said in a written statement: “The Alaskans for Mary campaign has no involvement with either Sullivan campaign.” The statement continued: “Like Mary, our campaign is focused on lowering costs and fixing the rigged system in DC.” It said the campaign “did not recruit any candidates into the race.”