It's been a wild day in Alaska politics, to say the least, and RedState's beloved resident "Alaska Man" - Ward Clark - has been front and center providing the latest updates alongside some of our other colleagues.
As first reported by The New York Times, of all places, it appears, as Ward suggested, that the Peltola campaign's fingerprints were (allegedly) all over an apparent scheme to get another Dan Sullivan on the ballot in the Senate race between Sen. Dan S. Sullivan (R-AK), who is running for reelection, and former Congresswoman Mary Peltola, who is the Democrat nominee:
In the summer of 2025, a staffer for Mary Peltola, the Alaska Democrat who was eyeing a run for Senate, received unusual instructions from top campaign aides: Find as many people named Dan Sullivan in Alaska as you can.
The staffer complied, combing through voter records to produce a list of Dan Sullivans from across the state.
[...]
The Peltola campaign has repeatedly denied any involvement in [Dan J. Sullivan's] candidacy. But The Times has found, based on interviews and text messages, along with documents prepared for a potential lawsuit against the campaign, that not only did Ms. Peltola’s team work with people trying to recruit Mr. Sullivan to run for Senate, but the effort was much broader. The group worked to coax other would-be spoilers into the race, to dilute the incumbent’s support and help catapult the Democrat to victory.
"It also involved the Peltola campaign's lawyers, as well as senior aides at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee [DSCC]," The Times noted, while adding that a former campaign manager and aide told them that "Ms. Peltola was not directly involved in the project, but she was 'definitely aware.'"
Though both the campaign and the DSCC "denied participating in efforts to recruit spoilers to the ballot in Alaska," Ms. Peltola had a rather interesting - curiously petulant - response when asked about the report on Wednesday afternoon:
Per @MattTunseth Peltola responds to the NYT Dan J Sullivan story by attacking the Times. "This is all stuff to sell newspapers. This is all stuff to get subscriptions. Nobody at the New York Times cares about affordability in Alaska. This is just another distraction."
— Alan He (@alanhe) October 28, 2026
It... did not land well, especially in consideration of other disturbing reports involving allegations that Peltola was bigoted and abusive towards staffers, condescending when it came to her fellow Alaskans, and hateful towards special interest groups whose support she desperately needed:
Utterly horrible response- Exactly what you might expect from a sociopath who physically abuses her staff and says she hopes constituents die of botched abortions.
— Matt Whitlock (@MattWhitlock) October 28, 2026
Something else that was noticed? A lack of a denial:
Nowhere in this is a denial.
— S k y (@Skkyyyyyyyyyyy) October 28, 2026
Between the Times' reporting and news that the DOJ is in the midst of an "aggressive criminal investigation" that has reportedly been going on "for several months" into the Decoy Dan scheme - with "multiple grand jury subpoenas" supposedly happening very soon - it sounds like Ms. Peltola has her hands full. Hopefully, after next week, Sen. Dan Sullivan can ensure that she has a lot more time on her hands to focus on it.
Editor's Note: The 2026 Midterms will determine the fate of President Trump's America First agenda. Republicans must maintain control of both chambers of Congress.
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