The Justice Department has issued at least three dozen new subpoenas and document preservation requests in its investigation of the Alaska Senate race, according to a US official cited by NBC News, and Alaska’s Republican governor, Mike Dunleavy, has ordered a separate state investigation. The subpoenas went to the campaigns of Democrat Mary Peltola and of Dan J. Sullivan, a former schoolteacher who is also running against the Republican incumbent, Senator Dan Sullivan. The dispute centres on whether Peltola’s campaign tried to recruit a candidate with the same name as the incumbent to draw away his votes. Peltola denies involvement, and the election is on Tuesday.
The case for a thorough investigation rests on what has been reported. The New York Times published an account that Peltola’s campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee tried to recruit a same-named candidate, based on interviews with 12 people and dozens of text messages. Alaska’s Bureau of Investigation has begun looking into the conduct at his request. Republicans have accused Democrats of manipulating the ballot since the second Sullivan entered the race. Dunleavy called the findings “disturbing new evidence”, said anyone found to have broken the law “must be held accountable”, and ordered the state Department of Public Safety to determine whether the scheme violated Alaska law. NBC reports that a grand jury issued subpoenas in August to witnesses linked to the second Sullivan’s campaign, and that the Justice Department filed a lawsuit last week seeking to block certification of the election if the incumbent loses. House Oversight Chair James Comer has asked for transcribed interviews with Peltola’s former campaign manager, Elisa Rios, and the Democratic operative Jerid Kurtz.
The case against the allegations is that the evidence is disputed and the response is unusual. A Peltola campaign spokesperson said it “has no involvement with either Sullivan campaign”, and Peltola said, “I knew nothing about any other candidates on the ballot except for me and the incumbent.” The Democratic committee said it “is not involved with Dan J. Sullivan”. NBC notes that the Times found no evidence he was coerced, and that he has said he entered the race on his own. Rios, who was fired in August, retracted her statements to the Times, and she had planned a wrongful termination suit but has not filed it. Trump has called for Peltola and the challenger to be removed from the ballot and prosecuted, a demand that goes beyond the investigation itself.
The outcome matters because the race is one of seven key Senate contests that Al Jazeera says will probably decide whether Republicans keep their majority. A dispute that is still unresolved on election day could shape how voters see the result, and a dispute over certification could affect not only Alaska but the national count. The investigations by the federal and state authorities will continue after the votes are counted.
The allegation is serious, and so is the denial. Voters will decide the race on Tuesday, but the legal questions about the second Sullivan’s candidacy are likely to outlast it.
