A resurfaced video of former Rep. Mary Peltola (D-AK) calling for criminal penalties for misleading voters is drawing ridicule after a New York Times investigation tied her Senate campaign to an effort to recruit namesake and spoiler candidates against Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Slay News reports.
“It should be a criminal offense to lie or mislead the electorate,” Peltola said in the August clip, which the National Republican Senatorial Committee circulated this week.
According to the Times, Peltola’s campaign actively took part in efforts to recruit candidates meant to pull votes away from Sullivan, including a man with nearly the same name. Federal and state investigators are now examining whether the alleged ballot operation violated voters’ rights.
Conservatives quickly challenged Peltola to live by her own standard. “Your terms are acceptable,” Townhall columnist Dustin Grage wrote on X. Conservative radio host Jason Rantz posted, “Turn yourself in, Mary Peltola,” while Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) wrote, “Well, that’s ironic.” Critics point to what they see as a direct contradiction between Peltola’s public call for honesty and the reported conduct of her campaign.
Federal prosecutors are reportedly conducting an “aggressive criminal investigation” into how Dan J. Sullivan landed on the ballot alongside incumbent Dan S. Sullivan, and the inquiry is expected to continue past Election Day. The Justice Department has issued dozens of subpoenas in the past 24 hours, according to reports, as investigators look at whether the operation amounted to a conspiracy against voters’ rights. The department declined to comment. Some have described the alleged conduct as a political dirty trick rather than a crime.
Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy has ordered the Alaska Department of Public Safety to open its own investigation. Dunleavy wrote on X that the Times reporting reveals “disturbing new evidence” of an organized effort to manipulate Alaska’s elections by recruiting candidates, including one sharing an incumbent senator’s name, to confuse voters. He said the state Division of Elections had looked into the same concerns in June and that the new reporting “substantially supports” its findings. “The evidence will determine what happens next,” he added.
Peltola has called the coverage “just another distraction” and suggested the Times published its investigation to “sell newspapers.” Her campaign has denied involvement, previously saying the Alaskans for Mary campaign “has no involvement with either Sullivan campaign.” With Alaska potentially deciding control of the Senate, Peltola now faces scrutiny from investigators and voters alike.
