Mary Peltola's campaign, Dems backed covert scheme to field spoiler candidates in Alaska Senate race: report

Alaska’s Senate Race Stirs Controversy Over “Ballot Composition Project”

An investigation by The New York Times released on Wednesday unveiled a covert effort by the Democratic campaign for U.S. Senator Mary Peltola to add a spoiler candidate named Dan Sullivan to the ballot, allegedly to siphon votes from the incumbent Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan. The scheme, dubbed the “ballot composition project,” involved Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) aides, top campaign advisors, party lawyers, and an operative who operated under false identities while traveling across the state.

A Summer of Planning

The plot began in the summer of 2025 when a Peltola staffer was instructed to sift through state voter rolls in search of Alaskans named Dan Sullivan. The plan came to fruition when Dan J. Sullivan—a retired teacher from Petersburg who had long identified as left‑leaning—switched his registration to the Republican Party shortly before filing his candidacy. His name, identical to that of the sitting senator, entered the race just in time to split the conservative vote.

In addition to Dan J. Sullivan, the campaign reportedly recruited drywall contractor Gerald Heikes and pressured progressive candidate David Leslie to withdraw, thereby paving the way for Heikes to secure a fourth spot on Alaska’s ranked‑choice ballot. An internal memo described how operative Jerid Kurtz, who used the alias “Zane,” met potential recruits in local diners and offered financial backing to entice independent and conservative candidates to run.

Trump’s Social‑Media Outcry

Former President Donald Trump took to Truth Social to denounce the effort as “election fraud.” He accused the Democrats of placing a “fake Dan Sullivan” on the ballot, claimed they lied to the courts, and called for both Peltola and the spoiler candidate to be barred from the race. Trump wrote, “The Democrats cheated! They found a man named Dan Sullivan, put him on the ballot, lied to the court, and said they didn’t know anything about it. That’s perjury. She shouldn’t be allowed to run, and neither should the FAKE Dan Sullivan!”

Peltola Campaign’s Response

Mary Peltola’s campaign issued a statement saying, “The Alaskans for Mary campaign has no involvement with either Sullivan campaign and did not recruit any candidates into the race.” The statement also emphasized that the campaign had not been involved in any of the alleged maneuvers.

DSCC’s Denials

The DSCC, which has long maintained close ties to the Democratic Party’s national election apparatus, released a statement rejecting any role in the alleged recruitment. “The DSCC had no role in recruiting Dan J. Sullivan or any other Republican candidate,” the spokesperson said. “Republicans have a long history of recruiting and propping up candidates in an attempt to boost their own campaigns.” The DSCC also clarified that a proposed third‑party “MAGA party” strategy, discussed in internal communications, was