Democrats Accused of Fielding Sullivan Lookalikes

Mary Peltola's Senate campaign is accused of operating a covert effort to recruit candidates who could draw votes away from incumbent Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan, according to an investigation published Wednesday by The New York Times. The alleged operation, internally called the ballot composition project, reportedly involved campaign advisors, lawyers from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, and an operative who traveled the state under assumed names.

The effort began in the summer of 2025, when a Peltola staffer was directed to review state voter rolls and compile a list of Alaskans named Dan Sullivan. The plan succeeded earlier this year when Dan J. Sullivan, a retired teacher from Petersburg, changed his voter registration to Republican shortly before filing his candidacy for the Senate seat.

Jerid Kurtz, identified as the central figure in the operation, allegedly traveled through Alaska using aliases such as Zane. The report states he met potential recruits at local pubs and diners, offering outside financial backing to persuade conservative and independent candidates to run and split the right-leaning vote. Operatives also recruited drywall contractor Gerald Heikes and reportedly pressured progressive candidate David Leslie to drop out of the race, which allowed Heikes to claim the fourth spot on the ranked-choice ballot.

Elisa Rios, who served as Peltola's campaign manager until she was fired in August, told the Times that while Peltola did not directly orchestrate the project, she was "definitely aware." Rios attempted to retract her comments before publication, but the newspaper reported that her initial interviews were supported by text messages, internal documents, and 11 other sources. Rios said, "Alaskan voters need to know. There was a lot of speculation, and voters should get the full picture when making their decisions."

President Donald Trump addressed the matter in a series of posts on Truth Social. "The Democrats cheated!" Trump wrote, adding, "They found a man named Dan Sullivan, put him on the Ballot, then 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!"

Campaign advisors and the DSCC also considered creating a third-party MAGA party to draw votes from the incumbent senator but abandoned the idea in May. Jacquelyn Lopez, an attorney with Elias Law Group, which represents both the DSCC and Peltola's campaign, was included in discussions regarding the third-party strategy and field operations, according to the Times.

The Alaskans for Mary campaign stated to the Times that it has no involvement with either Sullivan campaign and did not recruit any candidates into the race. The DSCC echoed that position, stating it had no role in recruiting candidates. In a statement to Fox News, the DSCC said it was not involved with Dan J. Sullivan, pointing instead to Republican efforts involving a prisoner with a New York address and an Arizona resident who ran in the Alaska Senate race.

The report surfaced days before Election Day and amid a Justice Department lawsuit seeking to block certification of the election if Sullivan loses due to voter confusion over the two identical candidate names. Under Alaska's four-person general election system, Peltola enters Tuesday as the sole Democrat on the ballot, facing Dan S. Sullivan, Dan J. Sullivan, and Gerald Heikes.