That "Decoy Dan" election scandal out of Alaska just took a serious – and potentially criminal – turn after Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy ordered an investigation into whether Democrats broke the law in their alleged scheme to confuse voters in the U.S. Senate race.
As RedState has been reporting, the brewing scandal centers around the appearance of a second "Dan Sullivan" on the ballot, and Republicans are alleging Democrats engineered the whole thing to siphon votes away from incumbent Sen. Dan S. Sullivan (R-AK) and help Democrat Mary Peltola win the seat.
A bombshell New York Times investigation published Wednesday reportedly uncovered text messages and a raft of evidence linking the Peltola campaign and senior Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) staffers to the underhanded effort to unseat the "real" Dan Sullivan.
Dunleavy had apparently seen enough and announced Wednesday night that he had directed Alaska's Department of Public Safety to investigate whether any state laws were violated in the planning and execution of the alleged scheme.
"Today's New York Times reporting reveals disturbing new evidence of an organized effort to manipulate Alaska's elections," Dunleavy said, referring to an earlier investigation by the state's Division of Elections.
"The new reporting substantially supports the Division's findings," he added.
The governor made it abundantly clear that possible criminal charges are now on the table for those who may have been involved.
"Alaskans have a fundamental right to vote for the candidate they actually intend to support," Dunleavy said. "Deliberately tricking voters into casting their ballots for someone else strikes at the integrity of our elections."
Today’s New York Times reporting reveals disturbing new evidence of an organized effort to manipulate Alaska’s elections by recruiting candidates—including one with the same name as an incumbent U.S. Senator—to deliberately confuse voters and misdirect their votes. The Alaska…
— Governor Mike Dunleavy (@GovDunleavy) October 29, 2026
Today’s New York Times reporting reveals disturbing new evidence of an organized effort to manipulate Alaska’s elections by recruiting candidates—including one with the same name as an incumbent U.S. Senator—to deliberately confuse voters and misdirect their votes. The Alaska Division of Elections investigated these very concerns in June of this year. The new reporting substantially supports the Division’s findings.
I am therefore directing the Department of Public Safety to investigate whether this scheme violated Alaska’s laws and whether criminal charges or civil action are warranted. The evidence will determine what happens next.
Alaskans have a fundamental right to vote for the candidate they actually intend to support. Deliberately tricking voters into casting their ballots for someone else strikes at the integrity of our elections.
Anyone or any organization found to have broken the law must be held accountable.
The allegations against the DSCC and the Peltola campaign have also caught the attention of President Trump, who called on Peltola to leave the race and face criminal prosecution in a Wednesday Truth Social post.
"Mary Peltola should suffer the Legal and Political consequences for what she has done, A FRAUD ON THE AMERICAN PUBLIC, and Dan Sullivan should be allowed to run without either Mary Peltola or FAKE Dan Sullivan on the Ballot."
Peltola's campaign and the DSCC have denied any involvement in the strange appearance of the second Dan Sullivan, and no criminal charges have been announced as of yet.