Democrats' Secret Plan to Stack Alaska Senate Ballot With Spoilers

Alaska's Senate race just gets more and more convoluted, and ranked-choice voting (RCV) is at the heart of it. 

In case you haven't been following along, there are three major players: the Democrats' candidate, former representative Mary Peltola; the incumbent, Senator Dan S. Sullivan (R-AK) and another challenger, named Dan J. Sullivan. There's a third Dan Sullivan, a former mayor of Anchorage, who has endorsed the incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan.

One more Dan Sullivan and they could start a barbershop quartet.

So, all of these are on the RCV ballot here in Alaska right now, and even the New York Times is starting to look askance at the whole thing; and well they should. This mess has the Peltola campaign's fingerprints all over it.

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.

This was no random request. Dan S. Sullivan is the name of the state’s Republican senator. And if the Peltola campaign or its allies could track down and persuade another Dan Sullivan to run for Senate, the confusion could cost the senator crucial votes on the state’s unusual, four-person ballot.

The plan worked. This spring, a retired teacher from a tiny fishing village along the Alaska Panhandle, reachable only by air and sea, announced his candidacy for Senate. His name was Dan J. Sullivan.

And thus the saga begins. But things rapidly grew more ridiculous. 

The Peltola campaign has repeatedly denied any involvement in his 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.

Mrs. Peltola: Alaska is a long, long way from New York, but when you've lost the New York Times, well, you've lost. And the Times, this time, seems to have the straight goods. 

The endeavor, which was internally called the ballot composition project, involved secret trips to far-flung Alaskan communities and the appearance of a mysterious Midwestern operative, who traversed the state using a fake name and made his pitch to would-be candidates over beers at brew pubs.

It also involved the Peltola campaign’s lawyers, as well as senior aides at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which directs the party’s campaign strategy in Senate races across the country. From Washington to Anchorage, those advisers participated in regular conversations about the effort and even considered forming a new political party to draw conservatives onto the ballot.

These tactics are, at best, shady. But it may actually work. In the 2024 election around 60% of Alaska voters "bullet voted," meaning that on the RCV ballot, they only selected their first choice, and no others. To win, the Sullivan campaign needs to get Alaska Republicans to "rank the red," and in our gubernatorial race, which has three Republicans inexplicably facing off against one Democrat, that is even more critical. If we see a repeat of the 2024 election, Alaskans had better be prepared to start saying "Senator Peltola" and "Governor Kreiss-Tomkins."

The New York Times has it right (and there's something you won't see me write every day). This is a feature, not a bug, of RCV, and so far the Democrats are playing smarter than the Republicans are.  In the Senate and governor's races, they have one Democrat and only one Democrat. They're playing to win, and using RCV to their advantage.

The Trump administration, just to make things more interesting, has filed a lawsuit seeking to block certification of the election if the incumbent Senator loses, claiming that the candidacy of the other Dan Sullivan was a deliberate spoiler — which it almost certainly is, but that seems a reach to establish in court.

Oh, and a repeal of RCV is on the ballot right now, as well. That's the final fix for this debacle; getting rid of RCV would eliminate this kind of thing, which RCV encourages — and which only helps Democrats. Vote yes on 2! Let's get rid of this monstrosity, Alaskans.

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.

Help RedState continue to report on the Democrats’ radicalism and inform voters as our nation faces a crossroads. Join RedState VIP and use promo code FIGHT to receive 60% off your membership.