WASHINGTON, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Democrats recruited potential spoilers in Alaska's US Senate race, the New York Times reported on Wednesday.
Aides to Mary Peltola, the Senate Democratic nominee, worked with the campaign's lawyers and senior staff at Senate Democrats’ campaign arm to recruit two candidates who are on the ballot and could siphon votes from incumbent Republican US Senator Dan Sullivan, according to the Times.
Alaska's ranked-choice ballot will feature Sullivan, Peltola, a retired teacher
whose name is also Dan Sullivan and a longshot candidate named Gerald Heikes, who has run for governor and the US House of Representatives multiple times. Heikes replaced Democrat David Leslie after the progressive candidate was urged to withdraw.
Elisa Rios, Peltola's former campaign manager, told the newspaper that Peltola was aware of the effort but not directly involved. Representatives for Peltola and Elias Law Group, whose attorneys represent Peltola, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee denied involvement.
"Republicans have a long history of recruiting and propping up candidates in an attempt to boost their own campaigns – including recruiting a prisoner with a New York address to run against Mary Peltola and spending nearly half a million dollars to secure a spot on the ballot in Alaska for an Arizona resident in the Senate race this cycle,” said Monica Robinson, a spokesperson for Senate Democrats' campaign arm.
Republican super PACs during the primary sought to boost a third-party candidate who lives in Arizona. A Democratic super PAC did the same for Heikes and another Republican candidate.
The US Department of Justice preemptively filed suit in federal court last week to block certification of Alaska's election results if Sullivan narrowly loses his reelection bid. Lawyers for Peltola's campaign have asked the judge to dismiss the Trump administration's lawsuit.
Republicans hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate, meaning Democrats would need to pick up four seats in the November 3 midterm elections to win control of the chamber.
Alaska, a state Republican President Donald Trump won by 13 percentage points in 2024, is one of several battlegrounds that will determine which party holds the Senate for the final two years of Trump's presidency.
(Reporting by Nolan D. McCaskill in Washington; Editing by Michael Learmonth and Bill Berkrot)
