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Democratic hopeful Mary Peltola broke her silence after a shock New York Times report accused her of an election fraud scheme to beat Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan in Alaska‘s Senate race.
A video from Peltola rallying in Soldotna in the south of Alaska shows the candidate firing back at the bombshell investigation late on Wednesday.
Talking to voters, she calls the report ‘just another distraction.’
‘This is all stuff to sell newspapers. This is all stuff to get subscriptions,’ Peltola said. ‘Nobody at The New York Times cares about affordability in Alaska.’
The Democrat‘s campaign denied allegations of her involvement in planting a doppelganger Dan Sullivan to take votes away from the incumbent.
Following the bombshell report, President Donald Trump demanded Peltola be thrown off the ballot and prosecuted, though he did not say what crime she had committed.
He branded the scheme ‘voter fraud at the highest level’ and called for the ‘Decoy Dan’ Sullivan to be struck from the ballot too.
Alaska’s Republican governor has since ordered an investigation into Peltola’s Senate campaign over the alleged plot to plant a decoy candidate on the ballot, just days before the midterm elections.
This combination photo shows Trump-backed Republican Sen Dan Sullivan, left, in Palmer, Alaska, on August 17, 2026, and another candidate in Alaska’s Senate race named Dan Sullivan
Trump branded the scheme ‘voter fraud at the highest level’ as he headed to a rally in Ohio, and called for the decoy Sullivan to be struck from the ballot too
Governor Mike Dunleavy said that investigators would examine whether the campaign should face criminal charges or civil penalties.
The move followed news that revealed its role in recruiting a retiree named Dan J Sullivan to run against Republican Senator Dan S Sullivan.
The so-called ‘Decoy Dan’ plot involved senior advisers to Peltola’s campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), the party’s main Senate campaign arm.
They tapped the retiree, who lives in a small Alaskan fishing village because he shares the senator’s first and last name.
Both Sullivans will appear on Tuesday’s ballot alongside Peltola and a fourth candidate, Gerald Heikes.
A sample election ballot is displayed in Anchorage, Alaska, showing both of the Daniel Sullivan candidates
But Attorney General Todd Blanche appeared to concede on Fox News on Wednesday that the scheme may not have broken any law, insisting only that it ought to.
The Justice Department had already sued last week at Trump’s direction, asking that the race not be certified if Senator Sullivan loses, though the suit alleged no specific illegal act.
It accuses Daniel J Sullivan, who says he backed Democrats in the last three presidential elections and voted for Peltola in her 2022 and 2024 House races, of trying to fool Alaskans into thinking he is the senator.
Chief Judge Sharon Gleason of the US District Court in Alaska has put the case on a fast track, giving federal lawyers until Thursday afternoon to answer a motion to dismiss.
She also pointedly noted that the administration waited to sue until Alaskans had already started voting. It comes nearly four months after the state’s top court ordered Daniel J Sullivan onto the ballot.
The Peltola campaign and the DSCC have asked to join the case, and on Wednesday the administration dropped its objection, citing the Times report as proof of a far-reaching scheme to deceive Alaskan voters with a phony candidate.
Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski said ballot-stacking has no place in elections and accused the campaign of lying to Alaskans and then covering it up.
