Federal prosecutors have flooded Alaska with a significant surge of law enforcement assets as a criminal investigation intensifies over an alleged scheme to place a candidate on the ballot with the same name as the Republican incumbent, U.S. Attorney Michael Heyman told reporters on Friday.
The probe centers on whether an organized effort deliberately sought to confuse voters in the Senate contest. The investigation has quietly operated for several months, but newly surfaced reporting this week from The New York Times tied Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola’s campaign to the recruitment of Dan J. Sullivan, igniting swift federal action.
“When credible information comes out, we are committed to pursuing that information to deceive voters and we will act on it. We are acting on it intensely and swiftly,” Heyman said. While federal authorities have declined to specify potential criminal charges or name specific targets, investigators have issued dozens of grand jury subpoenas and requests to preserve records.
Peltola Denies Scheme Involvement at Rally
Peltola firmly rejected any personal knowledge of or involvement in the scheme during a Thursday campaign rally at a downtown bar in Juneau. “I just want to clear the air,” she told supporters. “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.”
The race is among a handful of Senate contests this year expected to determine control of the chamber. On the opposing side, Dan J. Sullivan has consistently maintained that he was not running at Democrats’ behest, stating in June that his contact with Peltola’s campaign was “zero, none, zilch.”
State officials have moved quickly to address the mounting legal turbulence. Republican Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy ordered a separate state-level investigation, asserting that recent press revelations substantiate earlier findings by the state elections board regarding systematic voter misdirection. “Deliberately tricking voters into casting their ballots for someone else strikes at the integrity of our elections,” Dunleavy stated.
Trump Directs Justice Department to Sue
The controversy has already drawn the attention of the president. Trump previously directed the Department of Justice to sue to block the certification of the Senate race should Peltola defeat Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan, casting public doubt on whether she would even be seated if victorious. When asked about the prospect by reporters on his way to a South Carolina rally, the president remarked, “Well, you’re going to have to see what happens. It’s hard to believe that she could even be allowed to run.”
With the federal grand jury activity expanding rapidly, state attorneys have asked a court to rule on the Justice Department’s lawsuit by Monday. State legal filings warn that leaving the federal challenge unresolved risks casting a cloud over Alaska’s election that runs directly contrary to the public interest.
