Overview:
A New York Times investigation alleges that associates of Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola and individuals connected to the DSCC participated in recruiting a second Dan Sullivan to potentially divert votes from Republican Sen. Dan S. Sullivan, while Peltola’s campaign and the DSCC deny involvement.
Native Vote 2026
Six days before Election Day, The New York Times published an explosive exclusive report on October 28, 2026 alleging that Mary Peltola’s campaign associates and individuals connected with the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) recruited Dan J. Sullivan to run in Alaska’s U.S. Senate race against incumbent Republican Sen. Dan S. Sullivan.
According to The New York Times, the goal was to potentially siphon votes from the incumbent by putting two candidates with the same last name on the ballot.
Alaska’s election system permits multiple candidates from the same political party to advance to the general election. In this case, two candidates named Dan Sullivan—Republican Sen. Dan S. Sullivan and independent candidate Daniel J. Sullivan—are on the ballot alongside Democrat Mary Peltola and another Republican, Gerald L. Heikes.
Alaska uses ranked-choice voting in general elections. If a candidate receives a majority of the first-choice votes, no additional ranked-choice rounds are needed. However, the result must still go through the state’s required review and certification process, overseen by the director of the Alaska Division of Elections following a review by the State Review Board.
If no candidate receives a majority of the first-choice votes, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated, and ballots for that candidate are transferred to the next-ranked candidate who remains in the race. This process continues until a candidate receives a majority of the active votes. Voters may rank as many or as few candidates as they wish.
Peltola, a former congresswoman, won the Democratic nomination in Alaska’s September primary.
On Wednesday, Peltola’s campaign and the DSCC denied involvement in the effort to recruit Dan J. Sullivan, a retired schoolteacher from Petersburg, Alaska.
“The Alaskans for Mary campaign has no involvement with either Sullivan campaign. Like Mary, our campaign is focused on lowering costs and fixing the rigged system in DC,” a spokesperson said in a statement emailed to Native News Online.
The New York Times based its reporting on interviews, text messages and documents. The article does not directly establish that Peltola personally participated in or directed the effort to recruit Dan J. Sullivan.
A portion of the article cites statements from Elisa Rios, a senior campaign adviser and former campaign manager who was fired by Peltola in August during a campaign shake-up.
The newspaper interviewed Rios multiple times. According to the report, she described the Peltola campaign’s involvement in recruiting Dan J. Sullivan to run for the Senate. Last week, however, Rios contacted The Times to say she wanted to retract her statements.
“As discussed on our call earlier today, I am confirming that I have retracted all statements made regarding the 2026 Alaska Senate Race in connection with any article you may or may not be writing,” Rios wrote to The Times. “I am not willing to be a source for any story in any capacity.”
The newspaper published its report despite Rios’s request to retract her statements.
Legal experts have noted that recruiting candidates to run in an election is not, by itself, illegal. The DSCC spokesperson countered that Republicans have also supported candidates in efforts to influence election outcomes, including candidates who ran against Peltola and candidates who received Republican financial support.
Various polls conducted in October showed Peltola leading incumbent Sen. Dan S. Sullivan by three to four percentage points, although those margins were within the polls’ respective margins of error.
