Breaking: Evidence Indicates Democrats Intentionally 'Stacked' the Ballot in Key Senate Race
Democratic operatives reportedly worked with Alaska Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Mary Peltola to recruit people named Dan Sullivan to “stack the ballot” and confuse voters wanting to vote for incumbent GOP Sen. Dan S. Sullivan, according to a New York Times report.
Alaska uses rank-choice voting, which lets the top four vote-getters in the primary advance to the general election. If no candidate receives an outright majority in the general election, voters’ second-choice selections are factored in until someone reaches over 50 percent of the tally.
The New York Times reported that in the summer of 2025, a staff member for former U.S. Rep. Peltola received instructions from campaign aides to find as many people named Dan Sullivan on the Alaska voting rolls as possible to recruit to run for Senate.
“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 said.
He received about 2.5 percent of the vote in August’s primary and has advanced to the general election. Even a small bleed-off of votes could make the difference in Sen. Sullivan being re-elected in his tight race with Peltola.
This is how the candidates are listed on Alaska’s ballots. It’s clearly marked, which one is the GOP candidate and which one is just a guy https://t.co/Bm49Jp7ZxS
— David Weigel (@daveweigel) October 23, 2026
The Times noted, “The Peltola campaign has repeatedly denied any involvement in his candidacy. But The Times has found, based on interviews and text messages, along with documents prepared for a potential lawsuit against the campaign, that not only did Ms. Peltola’s team work with people trying to recruit Mr. Sullivan to run for Senate, but the effort was much broader. The group worked to coax other would-be spoilers into the race, to dilute the incumbent’s support and help catapult the Democrat to victory.”
Gerald Heikes, who is listed as a Republican on the ballot, was also recruited into the race.
Elisa Rios, Peltola’s former campaign manager and longtime aide, who was fired in August amid a staff shakeup, told the Times, “Alaskan voters need to know.”
Rios said that Peltola, who was Alaska’s sole U.S. House member from September 2022 to January 2025, was not directly involved in recruiting people, but she was “definitely aware” of the operation, which was called the “ballot composition project.”
“It also involved the Peltola campaign’s lawyers, as well as senior aides at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which directs the party’s campaign strategy in Senate races across the country,” the Times said.
The operation had its desired effect, leaving Peltola as the only Democrat on the ballot.
Her campaign said in a statement to the Times, “The Alaskans for Mary campaign has no involvement with either Sullivan campaign and did not recruit any candidates into the race.” The DSCC also denied involvement.
However, the news outlet noted, “This article is based on interviews over the past two months with 12 people who participated in or were told of the plan, or were would-be candidates that the team tried to recruit. The Times also obtained dozens of text messages that provided updates on the progress of the effort. The reporting included the extensive interviews with Ms. Rios, during which she shared details of the operation.”
“Last week, as The Times prepared to publish this article, Ms. Rios, who had been planning to file a wrongful termination lawsuit against the Peltola campaign, contacted The Times and said she wanted to take back her previous statements,” the Times said.
But they never agreed that the interviews were off the record or on background, and “Ms. Rios’s interviews were consistent with The Times’s other reporting. She has not filed a lawsuit against the campaign.”
One possibility is that some agreement had been reached.
The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit in federal court in Alaska to block state officials from certifying the results of the U.S. Senate race if Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan loses next month.
The complaint argues that the presence on the ballot of another candidate named Daniel J. Sullivan is a purposeful attempt to mislead voters and thwart the will of the electorate.
“Given the substantial likelihood that the inclusion of Daniel J. Sullivan will confuse or mislead voters looking to cast a vote for Senator Sullivan, and thus distort the will of Alaskan voters, there is a substantial likelihood that a certification of the election will reflect an electoral process that lacked integrity,” it said.
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