For the past year, Democrats have warned anyone who would listen that President Donald Trump and the GOP are scheming to rig the midterms. They act all high and mighty about democracy and fairness, lecturing the rest of us as if the Democrat Party alone stands guard over the sanctity of the vote.
It's a disgraceful act. When it comes to dirty tricks and schemes, Democrats are the worst, and the most infuriating part is that they usually get away with it.
Alaska could decide which party controls the Senate. Trump carried the state by double digits in the last presidential election, yet dirty tricks could tilt the election to former Rep. Mary Peltola (D-Alaska). Now a bombshell New York Times report reveals what the self-appointed defenders of democracy do when a Senate seat hangs in the balance.
As we have long suspected (and evidence has shown), back in the summer of 2025, Democrat operatives aligned with Peltola ran a secret operation to stack the race with “spoiler” candidates with the intention of siphoning votes from Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska). They reportedly went hunting for another man named Dan Sullivan to put on Alaska's four-person ballot alongside the incumbent, betting that confused voters would split their support. A retired teacher from Petersburg named Dan J. Sullivan eventually jumped in. He has long insisted that he ran on his own, and the Peltola campaign denies recruiting him.
But, according to the Times, the operation involved Peltola campaign aides, officials from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), campaign lawyers, and a Democrat operative who allegedly used the fake name "Zane" while recruiting candidates. The operatives allegedly targeted others, too. Gerald Heikes, a drywall contractor, entered the race and became the fourth name on the ballot. After the primary, the team reportedly helped persuade far-left Democrat David Leslie to withdraw, which cleared the way for Heikes to claim the spot and potentially peel off Republican votes.
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There were also reported efforts to bankroll the new candidates through outside spending and a brand-new super PAC called Alaska Values. Aides even considered launching a "MAGA party" to further fracture conservative voters before abandoning the idea.
Both the Peltola campaign and the DSCC deny any involvement in recruiting candidates or spoilers. Elisa Rios, a former Peltola campaign manager and a major source for the story, later tried to retract her statements. The Times published her accounts anyway, saying they matched its other reporting.
Alaska's nonpartisan primary system makes it relatively easy for candidates to appear on the ballot under a party label without any party vetting. Recruiting a man with the same name as your opponent goes far beyond gamesmanship. If the reporting holds up, this was a con job aimed squarely at voters.
This could have huge legal consequences depending on how the election turns out. Last week, the Justice Department filed a federal lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska, seeking to block the state from certifying its Senate results if Sullivan loses. The suit argued that the second Dan Sullivan was planted to mislead voters and taints the entire race. It accuses the fake candidate of entering the contest as a Republican "with the intention of misleading" the incumbent's supporters, and it warns that two candidates with the same name on one ballot will confuse voters.
"Should Alaska certify any electoral results tainted by the inclusion on the ballot of Daniel J. Sullivan… the State and its officers will fail in its obligation to protect the integrity of its election," the filing states.
If Peltola wins by a margin smaller than the number of votes the spoiler candidates pull in, Alaska is headed for a major legal battle.
For years, Democrats have branded Trump and the GOP as threats to democracy, and for the past year they've insisted Republicans were rigging the midterms. All the while, their own operatives were rigging the ballot behind closed doors. That tells you exactly how dirty and shameless they really are.
