Governor orders Dan Sullivan recruitment probe

Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy ordered an investigation into whether the alleged recruitment of a candidate named Dan Sullivan for the state’s U.S. Senate race, where the incumbent shares the same name, violated laws.

Dunleavy’s order late Wednesday was in response to a report by The New York Times Wednesday that people in the campaign of Democratic nominee Mary Peltola and senior advisors at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee worked to recruit retired schoolteacher Dan Sullivan to run to draw votes from Sen. Dan Sullivan.

The incumbent senator, like Dunleavy, is a Republican.

Peltola’s campaign and the DSCC, in response to the Times article, said they are not involved in the campaign of the retired teacher Sullivan.

The governor’s order came as a federal judge in Alaska allowed Peltola’s campaign and the DSCC to intervene in a U.S. Justice Department lawsuit that seeks to block the state from immediately certifying any Senate election result “that may be impacted by voter confusion … pending an investigation to determine whether votes cast for Daniel J. Sullivan were meant to be cast for Senator Sullivan.”

The campaign, the DSCC and state election officials have asked Judge Sharon Gleason to dismiss that lawsuit before Election Day, Nov. 3.

President Donald Trump has said he ordered the DOJ to file the suit.

The political stakes in the Alaska Senate race are potentially momentous. The winner of the contest could determine the balance of power in the Senate, where Republicans hold a six-vote majority.

Dunleavy, in announcing his order, noted that Alaska’s Division of Elections had investigated concerns that the retired teacher’s entry into the Senate primary was designed to confuse voters, which led the division to block him from that ballot. A state court judge reversed that order, and the Alaska Supreme Court upheld that ruling, allowing him on the ballot.

“The new reporting substantially supports the Division’s findings,” Dunleavy said in a post on X.

“I am therefore directing the Department of Public Safety to investigate whether this scheme violated Alaska’s laws and whether criminal charges or civil action are warranted,” Dunleavy said. “The evidence will determine what happens next.”

“Alaskans have a fundamental right to vote for the candidate they actually intend to support,” he said. “Deliberately tricking voters into casting their ballots for someone else strikes at the integrity of our elections. Anyone or any organization found to have broken the law must be held accountable.

Gleason late Wednesday ordered the DOJ to respond by late…