President Trump wants a Democratic Senate candidate in Alaska off the ballot—and facing charges. Trump on Wednesday said former Rep. Mary Peltola should be barred from challenging incumbent Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan and prosecuted, along with another candidate named Daniel J. Sullivan, the Hill reports.
- Democrats in Alaska "put a man named Dan Sullivan on the Ballot in order to confuse the Public with respect to Highly Esteemed Senator Dan Sullivan. This is Voter Fraud at the Highest Level," Trump wrote in one of several Truth Social posts on the issue. Peltola "should be removed from the Ballot and prosecuted—So should the FAKE Dan Sullivan. Nothing else will do," Trump wrote.
His comments follow a New York Times report that Peltola aides, campaign lawyers, and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee staffers were involved in encouraging additional candidates to run—tactics the Times notes are legal and common in both parties. Peltola's campaign and the DSCC deny any role in recruiting candidates. Peltola suggested Wednesday that the report was a "distraction" from issues like Sen. Sullivan's support of the Iran war, the AP reports. "This is just another diversion," she said. "This is all stuff to sell newspapers. This is all stuff to get subscriptions."
- A DSCC spokesperson said the group wasn't involved with Dan J. Sullivan's campaign and argued that "Republicans have a long history of recruiting and propping up candidates in an attempt to boost their own campaigns," reports CBS News.
- The Times story was based, in part, on interviews with former Peltola campaign manager, Elisa Rios, who was fired in August. The Times said Rios contacted the newspaper last week, seeking to retract all of her statements about the Senate race. "It is rare for a source to seek to retract comments made in previous interviews," the Times said, adding that its "standards do not obligate reporters to comply with such requests" and Rios was informed that the interviews would remain part of the story.
- Alaska's other senator, GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski, said the state's people "deserve the honest truth from Mary and her campaign—what has been revealed is a pattern of lies and coverups and a culture of deception that belongs nowhere in our elections or among our elected officials." She has endorsed Sen. Sullivan but she is a longtime friend of Peltola, the AP notes.
- The Justice Department has separately sued to block certification of the race's results if the incumbent loses, citing the two Sullivans on the ballot. Legal experts say the report of alleged Democratic involvement in Sullivan-related shenanigans is unlikely to have any effect on the lawsuit.
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