Democratic recruitment report does not establish Trump’s Alaska perjury claim

President Donald Trump has called for Democrat Mary Peltola and another candidate, Daniel J. Sullivan Jr, to be barred from Alaska’s Senate race, alleging election fraud and perjury. Sullivan is a retired teacher who shares a name with the Republican incumbent, Senator Dan S. Sullivan, whom Trump supports.

In a Truth Social post on 28 October, Trump said Democrats had put the second Sullivan on the ballot and lied to a court about it. In a separate post 18 minutes earlier, he cited a New York Times investigation and alleged that Democrats had made false statements under oath in federal court. Neither post identified a particular sworn statement.

The Times report provides substantial grounds to examine whether Democratic aides sought to recruit candidates to draw support away from the senator. But recruitment is not itself proof of election fraud or perjury, and the court filing examined here was not a sworn statement.

The recruitment report

The Times said its investigation was based on interviews with 12 people involved in, informed about or approached by the effort, as well as text messages and other documents. It described a plan involving Peltola campaign aides and officials at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) to encourage candidates to run against the senator.

Former Peltola campaign manager Elisa Rios told the newspaper that a Democratic operative, Jerid Kurtz, had told the team he had contacted Daniel J. Sullivan and described him as open to running if it helped Peltola. Rios said Peltola was aware of the project but not directly involved.

Rios was dismissed in August and later asked the Times to retract her statements. The newspaper said her interviews were consistent with its other reporting. Among the messages it described was one in which a pollster suggested a focus-group participant was a suitable audience for “our ballot strategy plan”.

Peltola’s campaign and the DSCC deny recruiting candidates. Daniel J. Sullivan has said he decided to run on his own. Peltola called the Times report “another distraction”, according to the Associated Press.

The Times also reported that federal records showed the pro-Peltola 49th State PAC paid about $87,000 this autumn to Wingspan Strategies, a firm co-owned by Kurtz. The committee said it had never hired or paid Kurtz for services. The report did not specify what the payments covered.

The newspaper noted that efforts to add candidates to a race to divide an opponent’s support are generally legal and have been used by both parties in Alaska. That does not resolve whether any particular conduct in this case broke the law.

What the courts have considered

Alaska’s elections director, Carol Beecher, initially removed Daniel J. Sullivan from the primary ballot in June. She concluded that his candidacy was intended to confuse voters, citing his requested ballot name, recent Republican registration and similarities between the two candidates’ websites.