Alaska's top federal prosecutor said Friday that new reporting on how a second Dan Sullivan landed on the state's Senate ballot had brought "a significant surge of law enforcement assets" into Alaska, confirming a criminal investigation that he said had been running quietly for months. Shortly afterward, Justice Department lawyers asked a federal judge to order state election officials to keep every ballot that ranks that candidate apart from the rest.
U.S. Attorney Michael Heyman spoke at the Federal Building in Anchorage, joined by officials from the FBI and the Alaska State Troopers. He said he was aware of New York Times reporting that the campaign of Democrat Mary Peltola and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee "orchestrated a sprawling conspiracy to recruit and prop up Daniel J. Sullivan as a sham candidate," and told reporters that "we are taking that extremely seriously." He said he had assigned several attorneys from his office to help and that "law enforcement around the country are taking investigative steps with respect to a criminal investigation on these matters."
Sen. Dan Sullivan, a two-term Republican, faces Peltola, a former congresswoman, in Tuesday's ranked choice general election, one of a handful of races expected to decide control of the Senate. The Times reported Wednesday that people tied to Peltola's campaign helped recruit Daniel J. Sullivan, a retired teacher from Petersburg, in an effort that could draw votes away from the incumbent. Its account rested partly on interviews with Elisa Rios, a former Peltola campaign manager who was fired before the August primary. State election officials had tried to keep the retired teacher off the ballot, accusing him of a "deliberate attempt" to confuse voters, but state courts overturned that decision, ruling that officials lacked the authority to exclude a candidate based on their interpretation of "good faith." He appears on the ballot as Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., with no party affiliation, while the senator is listed as Dan S. Sullivan, Republican and incumbent.
The ballot request is part of the civil lawsuit the department filed last week, which seeks to block certification of the Senate result if the incumbent loses because of voter confusion; President Trump has said he told the department to bring it. On Friday the government moved for a preliminary injunction and asked the court to direct officials to "preserve and segregate all ballots ranking Daniel J. Sullivan for the purposes of investigating whether such ranking was the product of voter confusion, should such an investigation become necessary." Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward wrote: "These modest precautionary measures will be impossible after Election Day, so there is good cause for expedited consideration."
Government lawyers also asked for fast-tracked discovery of the "internal and external conversations" that the Peltola campaign and the DSCC, the Senate Democrats' campaign arm, had about recruiting the candidate, and filed proposed questions they want the court to compel both organizations to answer. "Daniel J. Sullivan does not seek to serve in the U.S. Senate but rather seeks to confuse voters," one filing says, adding that "there will indeed be voter confusion caused by this frivolous candidacy." The filings lean heavily on the Times reporting.
On the criminal side, federal prosecutors issued dozens of grand jury subpoenas and requests to preserve records this week, a person familiar with the matter told the Associated Press, and CBS News reported that the department has issued subpoenas targeting several Democratic officials. In Petersburg, the owner of a boat dealership who had donated to the retired teacher's campaign told the AP that an FBI agent came by and asked whether the candidacy had misled him. He said it had not. "Everybody knows who the incumbent is," he said.
Heyman would not say which laws might have been broken or name any targets, and he asked the public to come forward with tips. "I'm not making any assumptions on whether a crime has been committed or not," he said, adding that he was "not going to put the cart before the horse." Asked why the department was acting four days before the election, he said, "We're not escalating anything except to the extent that a new article came out," and described an inquiry that "has been going on sort of quietly for several months." He said he had not been in touch with the White House about either case, and that an earlier recusal, which stemmed from his consideration for a judgeship he is no longer in line for, "has officially been rescinded."
Peltola has denied any part in the other Sullivan's candidacy. She said Thursday that she is "not interested in tricking voters" and "knew nothing about any other candidates on the ballot except for me and the incumbent." At a rally in Anchorage late Friday, she said she was "so deeply offended by these accusations about having any involvement with anyone else's candidacy." "I want fewer candidates in the primary. I'm not out soliciting more competition," she told supporters. Asked by KTUU whether someone on her campaign might have been involved, she said, "I honestly have no idea." The DSCC has said it was "not involved with Dan J. Sullivan" and has argued that Republicans have been linked to ballot-stacking efforts of their own in Alaska. Daniel J. Sullivan has long denied that he is running at Democrats' behest.
Alaska, the defendant in the civil case, told the court the lawsuit "lacks any merit." State lawyers wrote that ballots are commingled in the ballot box on Election Day and could not be separated without violating ballot secrecy, that the ballots "will not reveal any voter's reasons for voting for Daniel J.," and that a preservation order is unnecessary because the state already keeps ballots for 22 months. They also faulted the timing, saying the department "waited until two weeks before Election Day to file a lawsuit about issues that arose months ago." The Times story itself said ballot-stacking tactics "are common in politics and generally considered legal," and noted that both parties have used them in Alaska. It is also highly unusual for Justice Department officials to discuss a criminal investigation in public, and the department has long avoided public steps in the weeks before an election that could be seen as an attempt to sway the result, the AP noted.
Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy has ordered a separate state investigation into whether any violations took place, following the Times story. At a rally in Florida late Friday, Trump said Peltola and Daniel J. Sullivan should be prosecuted, noted that Attorney General Todd Blanche was in attendance and said, "He's going to make his own decision."
The department has asked the judge to rule on the ballot request by Monday, one day before Election Day.