Federal authorities have sent a “significant surge” of law enforcement resources to Alaska as they investigate allegations that political operatives recruited a Senate candidate with the same name as Republican incumbent Senator Dan Sullivan in an effort to confuse voters at the ballot box. Heyman said Friday that parallel criminal and civil investigations were underway, with FBI personnel and several attorneys from his office assigned to the matter just days ahead of Election Day. Heyman said authorities had been investigating the matter for several months, but that recent reporting by The New York Times had produced additional information and accelerated the federal response.
He said he had not discussed the investigations with the White House. Sullivan Jr., a retired teacher who shares a name with the incumbent GOP senator. Earlier this year, the Alaska Division of Elections concluded that Sullivan Jr. had filed his candidacy for the purpose of confusing or misleading voters.
A Superior Court judge reversed the decision, finding that election officials lacked authority to impose the "good faith" candidacy requirement they had used. The Alaska Supreme Court subsequently allowed Sullivan Jr. to remain on the ballot. The controversy escalated after the Times reported this week that operatives aligned with Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola allegedly sought to recruit candidates into the race, including Sullivan Jr., as part of an effort to divide support for the incumbent.
Heyman described the allegations on Friday as “deeply troubling.” “The Justice Department takes every allegation of this sort extremely seriously when it comes to voter corruption or disrupting the integrity of the election process,” Heyman said, adding that the new information had resulted in “a significant surge of law enforcement assets to Alaska.” Matthew Schlegel, the special agent in charge of the FBI office serving Alaska, said the investigation was active and authorities would “quickly and aggressively follow the facts wherever they lead.” Heyman declined to identify potential crimes, targets or subjects and emphasized that investigators had not determined that a crime had occurred. Heyman stressed that the department was not asking the court to declare a winner or loser or change any votes. Peltola has denied involvement in efforts to deceive voters.
Her campaign previously told Newsweek: "The Alaskans for Mary campaign has no involvement with either Sullivan campaign." In a court filing Thursday, Peltola's campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) called the Justice Department's accusation that they had misled the court "nonsense." Peltola's campaign and the DSCC argued that the Times' allegations did not fix what they described as separate legal flaws in the Justice Department's lawsuit seeking to block certification. They called the allegations "a distraction from DOJ's meritless claims" and said they provided "no basis for DOJ's demand that the Court enjoin certification." Senator Sullivan's campaign, meanwhile, has accused Peltola's operation of misleading Alaskans. "Mary Peltola and her campaign have spent months gaslighting Alaskans, denying a scheme they were running all along," campaign spokesperson Nate Adams previously told Newsweek.
Sullivan Jr. has maintained that he entered independently because of dissatisfaction with the incumbent. "It's a free country," he said after Alaska courts restored him to the ballot earlier this year, according to Courthouse News Service. He added that he hoped people knew "who and what they are voting for" but that "choice is good." Newsweek has contacted the campaigns of Peltola and Senator Dan Sullivan and the DSCC on Friday for comment.
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