Dozens of Democratic lawmakers and governors have declined to comment on a New York Times report alleging that aides to Alaska Senate candidate Mary Peltola helped recruit a 'decoy' candidate named Dan Sullivan to run against Republican incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan. The alleged strategy, which Peltola’s campaign has denied, reportedly aimed to confuse voters and potentially split the Republican vote in the 2024 election cycle. Despite frequent public statements from these officials regarding threats to democracy, Fox News Digital reported that none of the 42 Democratic figures reached for comment responded to inquiries about the alleged effort to mislead voters.
The controversy stems from a report by The New York Times, which cited text messages and interviews with former campaign staffers to suggest a coordinated effort to field a candidate with an identical name to the incumbent. The Department of Justice subsequently filed a lawsuit on Oct. 22 seeking to delay the certification of Alaska’s Senate election if Sen. Dan Sullivan loses, arguing that votes cast for the other Sullivan could have changed the outcome. This legal move highlights ongoing tensions regarding election integrity and the mechanisms used to challenge results in closely contested races.
What the Right Is Saying
Conservative critics and the Department of Justice argue that the alleged use of a name-alike candidate constitutes a form of voter manipulation that undermines the clarity of the electoral process. The DOJ’s lawsuit seeks an investigation into whether voter confusion played a decisive role in the election result, framing the issue as a matter of election integrity rather than partisan politics.
Sen. Dan Sullivan, the Republican incumbent, has highlighted the pattern of such tactics, with reports indicating he broke a four-year silence on social media to describe the situation as a 'pattern of lies.' Legal experts cited by Fox News Digital noted the challenges in proving voter intent from anonymous ballots, but Republican officials maintain that the state’s sovereignty over elections does not exempt it from federal scrutiny when voter confusion is alleged to be engineered.
What the Left Is Saying
Prominent Democrats have historically emphasized the importance of protecting democratic norms. Sen. Richard Blumenthal stated in 2022 that 'voter suppression is poisonous, it is toxic to our democracy,' while Sen. Cory Booker noted in 2016 that 'protecting American democracy is a calling far higher than party politics.' Sen. Chris Murphy argued in April 2025 that those who believe the threat to democracy is urgent must 'act like it.'
Mary Peltola’s campaign has firmly denied any involvement in the alleged scheme, asserting that her campaign 'has no involvement with either Sullivan campaign.' The campaign did not respond to further requests for comment from Fox News Digital. Among those reached for comment were Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Sens. Adam Schiff, Alex Padilla, and John Fetterman, as well as Govs. Wes Moore and Gavin Newsom. None had publicly denounced the alleged tactic as of the report's publication.
However, at least one Democrat broke the silence to criticize the alleged tactic. Iowa Democratic gubernatorial nominee Rob Sand told Fox News on Sunday that 'both parties are doing it and neither party should be doing it,' calling such efforts 'manipulating the political system.'
What the Numbers Show
Fox News Digital reached out to 42 Democratic lawmakers and governors who endorsed Peltola. The group included 20 Senate members and 13 House members, as well as several governors and former officials. As of the publication of the report, zero had responded to questions regarding whether they would denounce the alleged effort to mislead voters.
The specific breakdown of the 42 lawmakers contacted includes Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sens. Adam Schiff, Alex Padilla, Maggie Hassan, Catherine Cortez Masto, Angela Alsobrooks, Andy Kim, Brian Schatz, Ed Markey, Elissa Slotkin, John Hickenlooper, Jon Ossoff, Kirsten Gillibrand, Lisa Blunt Rochester, Mark Kelly, Michael Bennet, Ruben Gallego, Sheldon Whitehouse, and Tammy Duckworth.
The House members contacted included Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Chris Pappas, Brittany Pettersen, Eric Sorensen, Mike Levin, Hillary Scholten, Jared Huffman, Josh Harder, Pramila Jayapal, Sarah McBride, George Whitesides, Jonathan Nez, and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez. Former Sen. Sherrod Brown, Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford, Govs. Wes Moore and Gavin Newsom, and former Gov. Roy Cooper were also among those reached for comment.
The Department of Justice filed its lawsuit on Oct. 22, seeking to delay certification pending an investigation. The New York Times investigation relied on text messages and interviews with former campaign staffers to substantiate the claim of recruitment. Alaska’s governor has ordered an investigation into the matter following the Times report. The outcome of the DOJ's legal challenge hinges on whether evidence of engineered voter confusion can be established and whether it meets the legal threshold to alter certification timelines.
The Bottom Line
The silence from Democratic leadership on the Alaska election controversy contrasts with their frequent public rhetoric on the urgency of defending democracy. The Department of Justice’s intervention marks a significant escalation, moving from political debate to legal proceedings that could delay the finalization of Alaska’s Senate seat. The case will test the legal boundaries of election certification and the standard of evidence required to prove that voter confusion was deliberately engineered by a campaign or its affiliates.