Alaska governor orders probe after report of 2 candidates named Sullivan on same ballot

Alaska’s Senate race features two candidates with nearly identical names, a situation that has triggered a new state-level investigation into potential election manipulation. The move comes after a New York Times report alleged that the campaign of Representative Mary Peltola recruited a candidate with a name closely resembling that of an incumbent Republican senator.

On Thursday, Governor Mike Dunleavy announced that he is directing the Department of Public Safety to investigate whether the scheme violated Alaska state laws. The probe will determine if criminal charges or civil action are warranted. Dunleavy stated in a post on X that the new reporting supports findings from the Alaska Division of Elections, which investigated similar concerns in June.

The ballot for Alaska’s ranked-choice U.S. Senate election lists incumbent Republican Senator Dan S. Sullivan and a separate candidate named Daniel J. Sullivan, Jr. The latter is a retired teacher listed without a party affiliation. The New York Times article, titled "Inside Democrats’ Secret Effort to Stack Alaska’s Ballot," reported that Peltola’s team worked to recruit Mr. Sullivan and other "spoilers" to dilute support for the incumbent and help the Democrat win.

Federal officials have already taken legal action regarding the confusion. On October 22, the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit seeking to delay the certification of results if Senator Dan S. Sullivan loses and votes cast for Daniel J. Sullivan could have changed the outcome. The suit aims to pause the process pending an investigation into whether voters mistakenly selected the wrong candidate.

Senator Dan Sullivan addressed the controversy during an interview with Sean Hannity on Wednesday night. He characterized the incident as evidence of a "far left" candidate with no record to run on. "When they recognize that, they're like, ‘shoot, I guess we got to cheat,’” Sullivan said. He noted that Peltola has not yet apologized for the situation.

Representative Peltola’s campaign responded to the New York Times report by stating that the "Alaskans for Mary" campaign had no involvement with either Sullivan campaign. The team asserted they did not recruit any candidates into the race. Peltola’s office did not immediately respond to a comment request from Fox News Digital on Thursday.

The next step in the process is the state investigation ordered by Governor Dunleavy. The Department of Public Safety will review the evidence to determine if laws were broken. The outcome of that review will dictate whether the state pursues further legal action.