So let me get this straight. Democrats recruit a guy with the exact same name as a sitting Republican senator to run against him, everyone knows it’s happening, and a federal judge decides the real problem is making sure we can’t even look at the ballots afterward? That’s where we are now.
Judge Sharon Gleason tossed out the Trump administration’s lawsuit Sunday, the one trying to at least separate and preserve ballots cast for this obvious plant named Dan J. Sullivan. Not the actual Senator Dan Sullivan who’s been serving Alaska, mind you. The other one. The one who Democrats somehow found and convinced to run in what might be the most brazen election manipulation scheme I’ve seen in years, and I’ve seen plenty.
The judge’s reasoning? Secret ballots matter too much. Sure, they do. Nobody’s arguing against ballot secrecy as a principle. But when you’ve got documented evidence that a campaign recruited a decoy candidate specifically to confuse voters, maybe we need to figure out if that confusion actually worked. Gleason wrote that requiring segregation of these ballots would violate Alaskans’ right to a secret ballot because it might lead to further investigation. That’s the concern here? Not that voters might accidentally elect someone they didn’t mean to support?
Here’s what really happened, and it’s not even hidden anymore. The New York Times reported last week that Mary Peltola’s former campaign manager admitted on the record that they recruited this second Sullivan. Not just the campaign either. Sources said the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee joined the effort. This wasn’t some grassroots candidate who happened to share a name. This was coordinated, deliberate, and designed to siphon votes from the incumbent.
The fired campaign manager, Elisa Rios, tried walking back her comments later. Too late. You can’t unring that bell. Democrats keep denying they recruited him, but the evidence keeps piling up anyway. It’s like watching someone with chocolate on their face insist they didn’t eat the cake.
What gets me is the sheer audacity of it. This isn’t creative campaigning. This isn’t good ground game or smart messaging. It’s a scam, plain and simple. Find someone with the right name, get him on the ballot, and hope enough voters get confused that your candidate squeaks through. And when someone tries to preserve evidence of how well your scam worked, hide behind ballot secrecy rules.
President Trump called it right Sunday on Truth Social. He pointed out that this fake Dan Sullivan has vanished. Nobody can find him, not even law enforcement. Because of course he has. His job was to get on the ballot and muddy the waters. Mission accomplished. Why stick around?
The Justice Department isn’t backing down though. They filed an appeal almost immediately after Gleason’s ruling. A department spokesperson made clear the judge dismissed on procedural grounds, not because she disagreed that Dan J. Sullivan entered as a frivolous candidate meant to confuse voters. That distinction matters. The court didn’t say this was legitimate. It said the remedy requested wouldn’t work without compromising ballot secrecy.
Even Alaska’s Republican-led state government filed against the federal effort Saturday. They’re probably worried about the precedent or the logistics or both. Fair enough. Elections are state business first. But that doesn’t make the underlying scheme any less corrupt.
You want to know what principles look like? Senator Dan Sullivan said Sunday he’ll accept the election results no matter what happens. Win or lose, he’s moving forward. That’s what actual leaders do. They don’t recruit decoy candidates. They don’t hide behind procedural technicalities when caught. They compete honestly and accept outcomes.
Peltola’s campaign responded with the usual deflection about weaponized justice departments and sham investigations. They say Alaskans will choose their senator, not Sullivan or his DC allies. Cute talking point. Alaskans can only choose their senator if they know who they’re actually voting for. That’s the whole point everyone seems determined to miss.
This race matters beyond Alaska too. It’s about what we’ll tolerate in American elections. Either we demand basic fairness and transparency, or we accept that any dirty trick is fine as long as you can find a judge to protect it afterward. I know which side I’m on.
The general election happens November 3rd. Senator Sullivan faces Peltola and two others, including the mysterious vanishing decoy. Ranked choice voting adds another layer of complexity. Voters better double check which Sullivan they’re marking down. That’s apparently too much to ask our justice system to verify after the fact.
Related: Dead Voters and Duplicate Names Found on Maine Rolls Days Before Election