President Donald Trump wants two candidates thrown off Alaska’s Senate ballot and criminally charged following allegations that Democratic operatives sought out another man named Dan Sullivan to undermine the Republican incumbent’s reelection bid.
The Justice Department has entered the dispute, asking that certification of the election results be postponed because the ballot contains two candidates with nearly matching names.
Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) believes the arrangement was designed to cost him votes in his contest against Democrat Mary Peltola.
Her campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee reject allegations that they helped bring the additional candidate into the race.
Trump accused those involved of committing election fraud while appearing Wednesday at a Republican campaign rally in Chillicothe, Ohio.
“This is voter fraud at the highest level,” the president declared.
He also targeted Peltola directly in a Truth Social message, calling for her removal from the contest alongside Daniel J. Sullivan, a former teacher whose candidacy has become the focus of the allegations.
“In Alaska, I don’t think Mary Peltola, after perpetrating such a terrible scheme, should be allowed to run, because this is ELECTION FRAUD,” Trump wrote.
🪖Seventeen battle-tested candidates are ready to strike a decisive blow to the Democrat Machine — but they urgently need resources. 🪖 Join the grassroots push to save the House Majority and back them today! ➡️➡️➡️ Make a 17X impact!!! 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
The controversy stems from a New York Times investigation that traces the alleged recruitment effort to discussions involving Peltola’s political operation and senior officials at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
“Find as many people named Dan Sullivan in Alaska as you can,” campaign employees were allegedly instructed last year.
The newspaper examined communications and material assembled in anticipation of possible legal action, while interviewing 12 people who either knew of the effort or had participated in it.
Its reporting also describes campaign workers searching state voter rolls for residents whose names could complicate the incumbent senator’s campaign.
Alaskans now face a ballot that distinguishes the two candidates through their initials and suffixes. The Republican senator appears as “Sullivan, Dan S.” His namesake is identified separately as “Sullivan, Daniel J. Jr.”
The second Sullivan, a retired schoolteacher from Petersburg who was born in the Midwest, entered the contest shortly before Alaska’s filing deadline.
His candidacy papers were submitted May 29 after he had registered as a Republican earlier in the year. He subsequently abandoned that affiliation and is running as an undeclared candidate, according to KTOO-TV.
The Justice Department’s concern centers on the possibility that even a relatively small number of mistaken selections could determine the result.
Those figures underpin the government’s argument that confusion between the candidates could change who wins the election, potentially depriving the incumbent of victory despite substantial support from voters intending to select him.
Peltola’s organization has expressly rejected any role in arranging a namesake candidacy.
“The Alaskans for Mary campaign has no involvement with either Sullivan campaign and did not recruit any candidates into the race,” the campaign told the Times.
Peltola dismissed the investigation as “just another distraction,” suggesting that the newspaper’s interest was driven by a desire to “sell newspapers.”
Sen. Sullivan accused Peltola’s allies of spending more than a year trying to deceive Alaska voters, alleging that the effort reached senior Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee officials.
He leveled the accusation Wednesday during an appearance on Fox News host Sean Hannity’s program.
“This is a scandal at the highest order,” Sullivan said on air.
“They’ve been lying for almost a year about it, and now they’re caught,” he told Hannity.
Sullivan also accused his opponent of presenting herself as an anti-corruption candidate while relying on political figures in Washington to interfere with Alaska’s election.
“She’s run a campaign about supposed corruption. She’s the corrupt one working with D.C. insiders to trick Alaskans,” the senator charged.
He portrayed the alleged operation as evidence that Peltola had “nothing to run on,” contrasting that accusation with his own record and political vision for Alaska. Her campaign disputes the premise of his accusation.
The Times identified a collection of people allegedly connected to the undertaking, ranging from lawyers and campaign employees to Democratic strategists and officials working with the national Senate campaign committee.
Trump wants the matter pursued as a criminal case, not merely resolved through ballot procedures.
“The Democrats cheated! They found a man named Dan Sullivan, put him on the Ballot, then lied to the Court, and said they didn’t know anything about it,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The president characterized the alleged misrepresentation to the court as perjury and demanded that both Peltola and Daniel J. Sullivan face consequences.
He repeated his demand when questioned by reporters Wednesday, urging authorities to remove both candidates from consideration and bring charges against them.
“I think the fake Dan Sullivan and Mary Peltola, number one they should be taken off the ballot, and number two they should be prosecuted,” he insisted.
Trump raised the controversy again while visiting Ohio to support Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and Sen. Jon Husted (R-OH).
Other Republican lawmakers concentrated their criticism on what Alaska voters should do at the polls.
National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Tim Scott (R-SC) encouraged voters to leave Peltola without a ranking on their ballots and voiced his support for the incumbent.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) contrasted Peltola’s legislative record with the time allegedly spent searching for another candidate bearing Sullivan’s name.
“Two terms in Congress. Zero bills signed into law. But she found time to hunt down every Dan Sullivan in Alaska,” Cruz wrote on X.
He closed his message by urging the election of the “REAL Dan Sullivan.”
