President Donald Trump stated on Wednesday, October 28, 2026, that Democratic candidate Mary Peltola should be removed from Alaska’s U.S. Senate ballot. The president’s comments on Truth Social followed a New York Times report alleging that Democratic operatives and Peltola’s campaign staff secretly recruited a candidate with the same name as the incumbent, Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan, to draw votes away from him. Trump characterized the reported recruitment as election fraud and perjury.
The Alaska Senate race features a nonpartisan, four-person ranked-choice ballot. The candidates include the incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan (R), Peltola (D), and Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., a retired teacher with no party affiliation. The New York Times reported that text messages and interviews indicated a Democratic operative encouraged Daniel J. Sullivan to run as part of a broader effort to expand the candidate field. The second Sullivan has denied being a "sham candidate," stating to Courthouse News that he entered the race because he wanted change.
Peltola’s campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) have denied any involvement in recruiting Daniel J. Sullivan. A spokesperson for Peltola stated the campaign has "no involvement with either Sullivan campaign," while the DSCC accused Republicans of previously using similar tactics, citing a 2024 House race involving a federal prisoner and a 2026 Senate primary involving an Arizona resident. State officials previously attempted to block Daniel J. Sullivan from the ballot, but the Alaska Supreme Court ruled he could remain.
The scale of the impact involves the potential nullification of thousands of ballots. Last week, the Justice Department filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking to prevent the certification of the election results if Sen. Dan Sullivan loses due to what Attorney General Todd Blanche described as "voter confusion." While the specific number of voters who might mistake one Sullivan for the other is not yet known, the Republican incumbent and his supporters argue the "sham candidacy" is a deliberate attempt to siphon votes from the established Republican incumbent.
The concrete day-to-day change for Alaskans would be a delay in knowing who represents them in the Senate and a potential legal challenge to their voting rights if certification is blocked. This situation sets a precedent for how same-name candidacies are handled under ranked-choice voting systems. A federal judge has fast-tracked the case regarding the ballot names. The next significant steps include the election next week and subsequent court dates to determine if the results will be certified or if the Department of Justice's request to block the outcome will be granted.