During a rally Wednesday, Alaska Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola dismissed a New York Times report alleging her campaign took part in an effort to peel votes away from incumbent Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan to a same-named rival, calling the story a “distraction” used to sell papers.
“This is just another distraction,” Peltola said in a video shared on X by local Alaskan writer Matt Tunseth. “It’s another diversion. Every day, it’s some new, you know, ‘Look over here moment.’ Not Dan Sullivan, registered Republican, incumbent, voted for this war in Iran 14 times. Lisa Murkowski quit voting for that war in Iran six months ago, and he’s doubling and tripling down.”
The New York Times published an investigation Wednesday that described a covert operation, internally dubbed the “ballot composition project,” to recruit spoiler candidates with the same name as Sullivan.
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According to the report, a Peltola staffer was directed since 2025 to comb through state voter rolls to compile a list of Alaskans named Dan Sullivan.
The operation allegedly involved aides from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), top campaign advisors, party lawyers and an operative who traveled across the state under assumed names.
“The plan worked. This spring, a retired teacher from a tiny fishing village along the Alaska Panhandle, reachable only by air and sea, announced his candidacy for Senate. His name was Dan J. Sullivan,” the Times reported.
At the rally, however, Peltola dismissed the report, claiming that it was made to “get subscriptions.”
“And this is not somebody who’s working in our best interest. And anybody who’s working in our best interest isn’t going to talk about the nonsense. This is all stuff to sell newspapers. This is all stuff to get subscriptions. Nobody at The New York Times cares about affordability in Alaska,” Peltola said.
Fox News Digital reached out to the Peltola campaign and The New York Times for comment but did not immediately hear back.
Sen. Sullivan campaign spokesperson Nate Adams told Fox News Digital, “Instead of admitting she has been caught red-handed in a scheme to manipulate and deceive Alaska voters, Mary Peltola’s response is to attack the media outlets she has been lying to for months.”
Elisa Rios, Peltola’s former campaign manager who was fired in August, told the Times that while Peltola was not directly involved in orchestrating the project, she was “definitely aware.”
In a previous statement to Fox News, the DSCC said it was not involved with the other Sullivan campaign.
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“Republicans have a long history of recruiting and propping up candidates in an attempt to boost their own campaigns, including recruiting a prisoner with a New York address to run against Mary Peltola and spending nearly half a million dollars to secure a spot on the ballot in Alaska for an Arizona resident in the Senate race this cycle,” a DSCC spokesperson said.
In a statement to The New York Times, Peltola’s campaign said, “The Alaskans for Mary campaign has no involvement with either Sullivan campaign and did not recruit any candidates into the race.”
