Alaska governor orders inquiry into alleged recruitment of senator’s namesake

Alaska’s Republican governor, Mike Dunleavy, said he had directed the state Department of Public Safety to investigate allegations that people connected to Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola tried to recruit a candidate with the same first and last name as her Republican opponent. With the election on 3 November, he wants officials to examine whether any state law was broken and whether criminal charges or civil action are warranted.

The move follows a New York Times report alleging that people linked to Peltola’s campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee worked to encourage retired teacher Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. and other potential candidates to run, aiming to draw support from the incumbent senator, Dan S. Sullivan. According to the BBC, the Times said it had reviewed text messages and interviewed 12 people involved in, told about or approached over the effort.

Peltola’s campaign says it had no involvement with either Sullivan campaign. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee told ABC News it was not involved with Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. The retired teacher, who lives in Petersburg, has previously said his campaign had no connection to Peltola’s.

There has already been a court dispute over the second Sullivan’s candidacy. After a state election official sought to keep him off the primary ballot, Alaska’s Supreme Court upheld an order to include him and left the question of how to list his name to election officials. That June ruling concerned ballot access; it did not decide whether the recruitment described in October occurred or broke the law.

The ballot also distinguishes the two men: the Associated Press reports that the senator appears as “Dan S. Sullivan”, identified as a Republican and the incumbent, while the other candidate appears as “Daniel J. Sullivan Jr.” without a party affiliation. Their shared name does not, by itself, establish that voters have confused them or that an offence has been committed.