Trump demands Alaska ballot change after report on Dems recruiting Dan Sullivan to campaign

President Donald Trump has demanded that Alaska change its ballot after The New York Times reported that Democrats spent months trying to recruit a man named Dan Sullivan to run against Dan S. Sullivan, the state’s Republican senator.

“It has just been determined that the Democrats in Alaska illegally searched for, and recruited, a man named Dan Sullivan to run against our distinguished Republican Senator, Dan Sullivan, in order to defraud, confuse, and obfuscate the Election, thereby taking votes away from the REAL Senator, Dan Sullivan,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Wednesday.

He added that Democratic candidate Mary Peltola “should suffer the Legal and Political consequences for what she has done, A FRAUD ON THE AMERICAN PUBLIC, and Dan Sullivan should be allowed to run without either Mary Peltola or FAKE Dan Sullivan on the Ballot.”

The previously undisclosed effort to enlist a same-name challenger involved staff members at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and on Peltola’s campaign, The New York Times reported Wednesday, citing documents and sources familiar with the matter.

The effort paid off: Dan J. Sullivan, a retired teacher from Petersburg, is now on the ballot as unaffiliated alongside the incumbent senator, Peltola and Republican challenger Gerald Heikes.

Peltola’s campaign and the DSCC have denied involvement with Dan J. Sullivan’s team, and Sullivan has said the decision to run was his alone.

The contest has become one of the nation’s most closely watched Senate races in the 2026 midterm cycle. Democrats hope a victory could help them regain control of the upper chamber, while many Republicans contend that Dan J. Sullivan is a plant intended to undermine the incumbent’s reelection bid.

Last week, the Justice Department filed a federal lawsuit seeking to bar Alaska officials from certifying a Peltola victory if Dan J. Sullivan remains on the ballot. The Alaska Supreme Court had previously rejected Republican efforts to remove him.

The Alaska effort, dubbed the “ballot composition project,” was a sweeping, coordinated operation that included secret trips to remote parts of the state to find potential candidates, The Times reported.

“Alaskan voters need to know,” Elisa Rios, Peltola’s former campaign manager, told the outlet. “There was a lot of speculation, and voters should get the full picture when making their decisions.” She added that the Democratic candidate was not personally involved in the recruitment effort, but that she was “definitely aware.”

The project got underway last summer, Rios said. In one meeting, DSCC staffers introduced her to Jerid Kurtz, a longtime Democratic operative. Kurtz later took part in a video call, where he said he had successfully contacted a man named Dan Sullivan in the small fishing community of Petersburg.

Kurz “said he hated Trump, and if it was going to help Mary, he liked Mary. He didn’t have any interest in being a politician, but if this could help,” Rios said.

49th State, a pro-Peltola super PAC, reportedly paid Kurtz’s firm roughly $87,000 this year. When reached by the Times, a spokesperson for the PAC said it had “never hired or paid Jerid Kurtz.” Kurtz didn’t respond to the outlet’s request for comment.

According to the Times, Peltola’s team also attempted to recruit other potential spoilers into the race.

So-called “ballot-stacking” tactics are thought to be legal and have been used before. Two years ago, when Peltola sought re-election to the House, state Republicans pushed to keep an incarcerated Democrat on the ballot.

Namesakes have also shared a ballot. In 2004, Rep. José E. Serrano, a New York Democrat, faced a challenge from Jose Serrano, a retired loading dock worker who withdrew after reporters began asking questions. Decades earlier, John F. Kennedy’s opponent in his first congressional race faced a similar namesake challenge.

President Donald Trump, who pushed the DOJ to file its lawsuit, has also publicly weighed in on the Alaska Senate race.

​“I am very concerned about the Dan S. Sullivan Race for the U.S. Senate in Alaska in that it is totally confusing, with the Dumocrats putting up another man, totally unrelated to Politics, named Daniel J. Sullivan, Jr,” Trump wrote on Truth Social earlier this month. “It’s ridiculous that the Court didn’t stop this SCAM.”

Peltolta has called the lawsuit an example of “flagrant corruption.” Senator Sullivan, she said in an October 23 Facebook post, is “using his DC allies to try to keep himself in power and put his own interests ahead of Alaskans.”

The federal lawsuit remains pending, with Election Day less than one week away.