Peltola Speaks: 'I Just Want to Clear the Air'

Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola denied Thursday that she knew anything about an effort to put another candidate on the Alaska ballot with the same name as the Republican incumbent as the Justice Department escalated a criminal investigation with new grand jury subpoenas. "I just want to clear the air," she said at the top of a speech in a downtown bar in Juneau. "I knew nothing about any other candidate on the ballot except for me and the incumbent. That is all I have ever known about. I am not interested in tricking voters." Peltola is running against Sen. Dan Sullivan. A person familiar with the matter told the AP that subpoenas seeking grand jury testimony or documents, along with records preservation demands, were issued after the New York Times reported that Peltola's campaign appeared to be involved in recruiting Dan J. Sullivan Jr.

More subpoenas were expected, though neither the recipients of the subpoenas nor the number of them were immediately clear. State attorneys asked a court to rule on the Justice Department's lawsuit by Monday, saying the case could "cast a cloud over Alaska's election that is contrary to the public interest." Trump on Thursday cast doubt on whether Peltola would be seated in the Senate even if she won. "Well, you're going to have to see what happens," the president said. "It's hard to believe that she could even be allowed to run." Later, Trump said he felt Peltola "actually should be removed from the ballot and prosecuted."

Peltola alluded to the controversy in a fundraising post Thursday. "They can't win on their record so they're trying to intimidate me into backing down," she said, adding later: "This is just another distraction as they avoid answering for the skyrocketing cost of living we're facing because of their tariffs and forever wars. It won't work." The situation in Alaska isn't that unusual. Political parties often support extra candidates on ballots to try to pull votes from their rivals. If state courts allow it, legal experts say, the federal government would have no role in challenging the results. Alaskan voters will see "Dan S. Sullivan" identified as a "registered Republican" and "incumbent" on their ballots, while "Daniel J. Sullivan Jr." will not have a party affiliation.