Peltola denies knowledge of spoiler candidate plan at Juneau rally

Alaska Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Mary Peltola opened her remarks to a packed crowd at a Juneau campaign stop Thursday night by denying she had any knowledge of an alleged Democratic effort to recruit spoiler candidates in the race for the U.S. Senate.

“I just want to clear the air. I knew nothing about any other candidates on the ballot except for me and the incumbent. That is all I have ever known about,” she said. “I am not interested in tricking voters. I know I can beat Dan Sullivan. We know we can win this.”

The allegations stem from reporting by the New York Times, which said Peltola’s former staff members worked with a Democratic intermediary to recruit candidates who could peel votes away from incumbent Republican Sen. Dan S. Sullivan in the U.S. Senate race. That recruitment effort allegedly includes Dan J. Sullivan of Petersburg, an independent running alongside Peltola and Dan S. Sullivan. Republican Gerald Heikes is also in the race.

Peltola defended her campaign: “This isn’t about me. This is about every single person in this room, every single person in this state, and this campaign has felt amazing. This is the best campaign I’ve ever been involved in, let alone be the candidate for. In 2024, we had 1,000 Alaskan volunteers,” she said, referring to her unsuccessful U.S. House re-election campaign. “In 2026, we’ve got over 15,000.”

Peltola did not directly address the civil and criminal investigations launched by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Alaska Department of Public Safety this week. At a press conference on Friday, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Alaska, Michael Heyman, declined to say what criminal laws may have been violated with the recruitment effort. 

Alaska law does not prohibit the recruitment of spoiler candidates, and the strategy has been used by both Republicans and Democrats in statewide races. 

Peltola only indirectly addressed the scrutiny from the New York Times.  

“I just feel like I’m dodging bullets left and right, you know, just with all the nonsense. And when did the New York Times become the National Enquirer?” she joked, to laughs from the crowd. “Inquiring minds want to know.”

Peltola also reassured the crowd that a recent car accident where she was rear-ended in Anchorage was not deliberate. “She was very legitimately very very drunk,” she said, to laughs from the crowd. “And so that was not a political conspiracy, in my opinion.”

She focused on her run for the U.S. Senate seat, describing it as crucial for addressing skyrocketing costs, protecting public assistance programs like Social Security and Medicaid and opposing the Trump administration’s agenda, including tariffs and the U.S. war in Iran.

“This war in Iran has to stop,” she said, to cheers from the crowd. “It is uncalled for.” 

“It is a war of choice, and we should not be there jacking up everybody’s prices,” she continued. “Freight costs have gone through the roof. Groceries are through the roof. We have a Congress that’s half millionaires and billionaires, working on a millionaire-billionaire agenda, not our agenda, not affordability agenda.”

Peltola criticized the money flooding the midterm elections. This year’s races are the most expensive election cycle on record, with roughly $2.86 billion spent on U.S. Senate and House races so far. 

In Alaska alone, more than $40 million had been spent through the end of September, according to an accounting by AdImpact. 

She criticized attack ads as being a result of uncapped third-party campaign spending allowed by the 2010 Citizens United decision by the U.S. Supreme Court.

“We have got to put an end to Citizens United, she said. “These attack ads have just been nasty all the way around on all sides, and this is completely not the way Alaskans do things.”

Several Juneau residents in attendance told the Alaska Beacon their support for Peltola was unchanged by the Times article, and dismissed the reporting as unfounded. That included Sharon Love.

“I came to hear what she had to say about it, and I feel that she’s telling the truth. It’s dirty politics at the end of this race — I think Republicans are desperate,” she said.

Love said Alaska needs a change in representation in Congress. “I don’t think Dan has been representing Alaska very well,” she said, referring to the incumbent, who was elected to office in 2014. 

She said she was disappointed in a vote against releasing the files related to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and by reports that Sullivan’s personal wealth has grown through stock trades while in Congress. 

“He’s getting rich while he’s in Washington,” she said. 

Love also dismissed the criminal investigations related to the Peltola campaign and alleged recruitment of spoiler candidates, calling them baseless. 

“I think they’re just trying to scare voters, or change voters at the last minute,” she said. “I haven’t heard of anybody, any of my friends saying they’re going to change their vote in any way.”

Last week, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the Alaska Division of Elections, seeking to have a federal judge order that no one but Dan S. Sullivan can be declared the winner of the U.S. Senate election because voters might be confused by the fact that two Dan Sullivans are on the ballot.

Peltola’s campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee subsequently filed to intervene on behalf of the defense and told the court they couldn’t say whether Dan J. Sullivan was a candidate for the sole purpose of confusing voters.

In an amended legal complaint published after the Times article, the DOJ cited the Times article and said the Democratic groups had lied to the court.

“Nonsense,” attorneys for the campaign and DSCC wrote on Thursday. “The only one who could possibly know Daniel J. Sullivan’s true reasons for filing as a candidate is Daniel J. Sullivan, and Alaskans for Mary and DSCC’s statement that they could not admit or deny that allegation was entirely proper.”

Earlier this year, the Alaska Division of Elections removed Dan J. Sullivan of Petersburg from the ballot alleging he was a sham candidate, but the Alaska Supreme Court struck down the decision saying the division did not have the authority to do so and he was eligible to run.