A Plan for Two Dans: How Democrats Manipulated Alaska’s Ballot

From the New York Times, I'm Michael. Bubaro. This is the daily [music]. control of the Senate may come down to. Dan Sullivan. But which Dan Sullivan? A. new investigation from the Times [music]. has uncovered the real story of how two. different candidates [music] named Dan. Sullivan ended up on the ballot for US. Senate in [music] Alaska and the secret. role that Democrats played in making it.

happen. >> I'm talking about the real Dan Sullivan, not the fake Dan Sullivan, not the Dan Sullivan put up by the. Democrats. >> This fake Dan Sullivan guy is not in it. to win it. He's in it to rig it. >> It's just a guy with the same name, Dirty Trick. >> Today, political reporter Kellen. Browning takes us inside the political. scheme and explains what it now means. for a race that could determine which.

party controls the US Senate. It's. Thursday, October 29th. Kellen, welcome to the Daily. It's nice. to have you here. >> Yeah, thanks for having me. >> My pleasure. You come to us with what I. think may qualify as the biggest. lastminute revelation of this midterm. election, at least as of this moment. with just a few days left before the. election. So tell us about what you. found. >> Yeah, for months in Alaska, Republicans.

have been crying foul about the Senate. race there. They have a Republican. senator running for re-election named. Dan Sullivan. But back in May, another. Dan Sullivan entered the race and they. immediately said this is obviously part. of a Democratic plot to confuse voters. because in Alaska there will be four. candidates on the ballot next week. Mary. Pelola, a Democrat, is one of them. Senator Dan Sullivan, the Republican, is. another. And then there's going to be.

another Dan Sullivan on the ballot. And. so Republicans said this was clearly. some sort of Democratic plot to get. voters to vote for the wrong Dan. Sullivan. Mhm. But for months, this Dan. Sullivan has said he entered the race on. his own accord. And Democrats, including. Mary Poto's campaign, have said they. have no connection to this Dan Sullivan, >> right? Democrats have been really. emphatic on this point. We had nothing. to do with this. This is just a crazy. Republican conspiracy theory.

>> Yeah. Democrats have maintained the. stance throughout legal efforts by. Republicans to remove him from the. ballot, which ultimately failed. And. that was even true as recently as last. week when President Trump's Justice. Department filed a lawsuit seeking to. challenge the certification of the. election if it turns out the other Dan. Sullivan receives enough votes that. prevent the Senator Sullivan from. winning. >> Right. And this is where your. revelations come to bear.

>> Yeah. Instead, my reporting found that's. simply not true. In fact, Democrats with. the Mary Pelto campaign and with a. national party engaged in an audacious, secretive plan dating back to last year. designed to help Mary Pelo win by. stacking the ballot in her favor. Basically, you found that Democrats. could not have been more involved in. trying to get Dan Sullivan on the. ballot, which is a major scoop and may. frankly change the way a lot of people. feel about this crucial race. And I want.

to understand how you came to uncover. this secret scheme to get Dan Sullivan. on the ballot. I know it's a pretty. tangled tale and it took a lot of work. to figure out. Yeah. The story for me. goes back to January when Mary Pelah, a. former congresswoman and Democrat, jumped into the race to challenge. Senator Dan Sullivan in Alaska. He's a. Republican who has served as Alaska's. senator since 2015. He's a strong Trump.

ally and he's made pretty deep. relationships in the state, [snorts] but. Mary Pelo was viewed as maybe the one. person that could pose a threat to. Senator Sullivan. >> That's [clears throat] because she won. an upset race in 2022 to represent the. state in its sole house seat. She was. wellliked across the aisle. She was the. first Alaskan native elected to Congress. and she was just sort of a political. celebrity on the left in Alaska. and not. even just on the left. So, people knew. of her. She was wellliked by voters and.

there was a sense that this race was. going to be quite competitive. >> And of course, as we know from polling, Trump is deeply unpopular in this. moment. So, if there's ever going to be. a moment where perhaps a state as red as. Alaska might be open to a Democratic. senator, it's probably going to be this. election. >> Yeah, exactly. And Alaska in particular. is suffering from a very high cost of. living. In rural areas of Alaska, the. price of a gallon of gas is rising to up. to $8. Wow. So, people are struggling.

and there's a sense that the. administration is to blame. So, Democrats were hoping to seize on that. economic anxiety and paint Senator Dan. Sullivan as one of the culprits. So, that's what the campaign looked like. when all of the sudden in May, Dan J. Sullivan jumped into the race. It. immediately turned into a national story. with everybody wondering what his. motivation was. Was he running in good. faith? He wasn't explaining himself very. well. He wasn't speaking very much at. all. So, I decided the only way to.

figure it out for sure was to get on a. plane and head to Alaska. >> Mhm. And what happened when you got. there? >> I had been expecting that I would be. walking around the streets of tiny. Petersburg, a fishing village where Dan. J lives, searching for clues. I didn't. think he would engage with me because he. had not talked to reporters very much up. until that point. So, I thought I would. knock on his door, try to see if there. are any neighbors that know of him, maybe talk to businesses in the town. But to my surprise, the day before I was.

set to fly to Petersburg, he responded. to me and said he'd be happy to talk and. he would even be happy to pick me and my. photographer up from the airport. >> Huh. How courteous. >> Yes, exactly. appreciate the ride. >> When he picked me up, he was dressed. very casually in a gray t-shirt and. shorts. It was unseasonably warm for. that time of year in Alaska. >> We'll sort of treat this like a a tour. >> Yeah. >> Free tour. >> And while we were driving around, he.

told me a little bit more about himself. >> Wow. >> How long have you lived in Petersburg? >> For the most part of 46 years. >> Wow. >> I've been south a few times for school, but this has always been home base for. for most of that time. He said that in. addition to being a retired teacher, he. was also a volunteer firefighter for. Petersburg and he had once served on the. local arts council in the town. >> That's beautiful. >> We can sit on the beach or something if. that's okay. >> Yeah, it's good with me. >> Wow, this is amazing. >> Part of the tour package here um.

high tide. >> He drove us to this beautiful park. overlooking the water and the mountains. of mainland Alaska. There's. >> a whale right there. Oh, really? >> Oh, wow. >> That's a humpback. >> Wow. That's That's amazing. >> We sat there and we even saw some. humpback whales at one point that. surfaced and interrupted our interview. So, it was quite the picturesque scene. >> Now, you're ready to to leave all this.

to go to Washington and be be a senator. Does that is that you want to leave this. paradise? >> Uh, well, I'm worried about this. paradise, so maybe that's that's a. better way to put it. >> Okay. Then I got down to the question. that everyone wanted to know. Why did. you get into this race? >> I think the reason anybody runs is. they're dissatisfied with what's going. on. And we've had the senator for 12. years and. >> think we need a change. I'm I'm willing. to step up and do that. >> He said that he was a moderate. Republican who was fed up with Senator.

Dan Sullivan's policies and thought he. might throw his hat in the ring. And he. said that people in his life for years. had been making jokes that he should run. against Senator Sullivan because he. shared the guy's name. >> You're the good Dan Sullivan. I wish you. were our senator instead of bad. There's. a this visceral connection you have with. someone who has your own name. >> Some people even called him senator. around town. [laughter]. [snorts]. >> I don't think the Republican party needs.

to be. the MAGA party. I think. >> throughout the interview, Dan was eager. to talk about his thoughts on the. Republican party and the state of. politics. >> I take it you're not a Trump fan then. >> Um I don't think so. >> But he grew hesitant when I pressed him. about how he actually got into the race. and whether somebody helped him. >> Yeah. >> Did the Palaha camp, any Democratic. group, anyone else play a role in. putting you up to this and coordinating.

with you? >> No, you haven't talked to them. And then I want to ask about Amber Lee. She what helped file your initial. statement of interest or initial um. candidacy papers? Her or her her. boyfriend or something? Yeah. >> Okay. How did you find her? >> We knew already from legal filings and. Republican investigations that a woman. named Amber Lee, a Democratic consultant. in Alaska, had helped him actually file. to run for office. >> Just to be fair to you. Yes. I'm I'm not. gonna I don't no one chat about that.

because of the stuff that's going on. >> Yeah. >> So, um in all fairness to her and me, >> he told me that he found Amber Lee. simply by doing an online search and. that nobody had put him up to this, >> but he didn't want to talk about her. further or any of his connections to. her. >> And tell me why you are not you I know. you said you didn't want to comment on. on Amber Lee particularly. Um there's a. lot of this that because of um these DOJ.

threats that keep. >> Yes. >> surfacing or um. >> I'm just a guy and they're scared. >> Yeah. >> Um. >> he said that he was afraid because there. were investigations going on about his. run, which was true. >> But he did admit to me that he had a. history of voting for Democratic. candidates and of donating money to. them. He gave small amounts of money to. Mary Pelah in a previous campaign of. hers and he said he had voted for her. when she ran for the house, but he said. that none of that was in some way proof.

that he was a spoiler trying to help. Democrats in this race. >> We'll grab our suitcases and. >> Oh, yeah. Yeah. >> Yeah. Again, appreciate you taking the. time. Thank you. So, yes. >> Okay. Take care. >> All right. Take care, Dan. >> Got it. So in his telling, he's just an. Alaskan citizen who happens to also be. named Dan Sullivan who objects to. Republican Senator Dan Sullivan's. policies to Trump's Republican party. more broadly and decides he's going to. run for United States Senate basically.

as an independent. >> Exactly. That's his story. He says it's. sort of coincidence that he has the same. name and he's still sticking to it. >> Mhm. But what do you end up thinking. about the story he's telling? And does. it feel truthful to you? >> I was skeptical for sure because he did. not want to talk about the minutia of. how he got into this race. Did he speak. with anybody? He sort of brushed past. that. At the same time, it was. plausible. It's possible. I mean, I I I.

didn't know for sure. I didn't have. proof. So, I left this remote part of. Alaska with more questions than answers. So on the spectrum of you believing Dan. J. Sullivan or not, you're somewhere, it. sounds like in the middle. [snorts]. >> Yeah, I think that's fair. But then. something happened on the Democratic. side of this race that ultimately blew. the whole thing open. >> H just a few days later, while I was in. Anchorage, Alaska, the Democratic. candidate, Mary Pelah, did something. pretty unusual. She fired a handful of.

her staffers. And these were veteran. campaign aids who had been with her for. many years at this point. >> That's a pretty dramatic thing for any. candidate to do that close to the. election. >> Yeah, it is. And it made me start asking. questions about what was happening with. her campaign. That led me on a whole. tangent for about a month where I was. reporting on what was going on with Mary. Pelo. Why were staff fired and how did. they feel about her? >> [snorts]. >> And what I learned is a lot of her. former staffers felt that she was an.

abusive boss. >> Their accusations ranged from relatively. minor issues such as at one point she. required her staff to feed her family's. pet chameleon which is named a meatball. which only ate live crickets. At one. point they had to feed meatball in her. congressional office when she was in. Congress and these live crickets escaped. and staff had to recapture them. So that. was an example where they felt this was. uh beneath their duties or or somewhat.

demeaning of employees. But there are. more serious accusations too that she. verbally assaulted staff members on a. regular basis, used offensive slurs to. describe them and other people and at. one point even shoved an aid in her. congressional office. >> Wow. >> I should note that the Pela campaign has. denied many of these stories or said. that they were exaggerated by former. staff members. So, Kellen, how does that. tangent, that reporting you go off to do. about the Democratic candidate and her. rather unusual management style, how.

does that bring you back to the Dan. Sullivan saga? So, one of the employees Mary Pela fired. in August was her campaign manager, a. woman named Alisa Rios. I began talking to Alisa Rios, and she. told me a pretty incredible story about. what really happened with Dan J. Sullivan and the role Democrats played. in his candidacy. And ultimately, I was able to confirm. that what she told me was true.

We'll be right back. Kellen, once you confirm this account, what do you end up understanding about. how the other Dan Sullivan really ended. up in this US Senate race in Alaska?

Here's what I learned. Last summer, top. Pelola aids huddled up with senior. Democratic operatives. They were. concerned that the Republican party. could play some sort of trick and get. another Democrat on the ballot to take. votes away from Mary Poto. So, they. decided they would strike first. >> Fascinating. They came up with a plan to. recruit other candidates onto the Senate. ballot. And the goal was to divide. Republican voters and hope that some of.

them would vote for these alternative. candidates on the ballot, depriving. Senator Sullivan of a vote and. indirectly benefiting Mary Pelto, the. Democrat. >> As part of that effort, a Palaha staff. member was instructed to create a list. of the Dan Sullivans in Alaska. all of. the Dan Sullivanss in Alaska. >> Yeah. As many of them as they could. find. >> And how does the Pela campaign and these. Democratic operatives ultimately. persuade one of these Dan Sullivans to.

actually run? >> So, what we know is this group of top. Democrats brought in an operative on the. ground in Alaska. He was a veteran. Democrat from Ohio named Jared Kurtz. [music]. And what I learned was that Jared. Curts's recruitment effort was not. limited to just Dan Sullivan's. Curts's job was to recruit people who. might be interested in running for. Senate and [music] essentially pack the. ballot.

>> [snorts]. >> And we know that he spoke with at least. a handful of people in Alaska, occasionally using pseudonyms to try to. obiscate who he was working for because, as you can imagine, he was trying to get. Republicans on the ballot and they would. probably not be very amendable to being. part of a Democratic plot. [music] He. lied. Yeah. I mean, I talked to somebody. who said he met a guy named Zayn. This. is the pseudonym that Curts was going. by. And he said, "Hey, have you ever. considered running for Senate? what do. you think? We really think you should do.

it. But this guy was not telling this. would be candidate who he was working. for or who was behind this push. >> H. and [music] Jerk Herz was giving. periodic updates on his progress to this. group of Pelola aids and national. democrats. On one of these calls, he. told them that he had made contact with. a man named Dan J. Sullivan who lived in. Petersburg. [music].

What he told him on this call was that. this Dan Sullivan was open to the idea. of running for Senate if it would help. Mary Pelola because this Dan Sullivan. didn't like Trump and he didn't really. want to be a politician, but he would. consider doing it if it would be. helpful. >> And so what becomes clear is that Dan J. Sullivan did not wake up one morning and. just decide to run for US Senate. He was.

nudged by these Democrats who very much. wanted him to enter the race as someone. who would hurt Senator Sullivan and help. Mary Pelo. >> Yeah, exactly. And of course, we can't. know what was in Dan J. Sullivan's head. Was he already thinking about this? But. he certainly was nudged into doing this. by this man Jared Kurtz. We even know. that uh shortly before Dan Jay announced. his run going back to late May that.

Jared Kurtz was in Petersburg. He told. somebody that over the phone and we. think that it's possible Jared Curts. also recruited the fourth candidate on. the ballot. >> His name is Gerald Hikis. >> He's a Republican. He was running for. the House and he told me that he was. approached by somebody who urged him to. run for Senate. We don't have a positive. confirmation this was Jared Curts in the. same way we do with some of these other. people, but he certainly was approached. by somebody telling him he should run.

for Senate. >> Well, so it's possible that this scheme. actually resulted in two candidates. being on the ballot. >> It's possible. And I should note the. Pelo campaign and the national. Democratic officials have continued to. maintain that they didn't have anything. to do with this. >> H So what does your reporting. ultimately mean for what you mentioned. earlier, Trump's legal effort to block. certification of the winner of the.

Alaska Senate race. It would seem like. what you found in your reporting might. strengthen the argument that the Trump. administration is putting forward, assuming that what happened here is in. any way illegal, which seems like an. important question. We didn't find any. evidence of something clearly illegal. here. And ballot stacking has been a. strategy employed by both parties in the. past, including by Republicans in Alaska.

as recently as this year when antipela. super PACs spent money boosting. Democratic candidates in the primary in. a very similar manner. Legal experts. have said that the Justice Department. lawsuit doesn't have a strong case. And. it's also worth noting that the Alaska. Supreme Court already ruled on the. question of whether having two Dan. Sullivans on the ballot could confuse. voters. They said that it was okay. It. was allowed to have both of those Dan on.

the ballot. The elections division has. differentiated them by middle initial by. shortening one of the names to Dan. The. other one's Daniel. And the senator is. listed on the ballot as an incumbent. So, there have been steps taken to try. to make clear to voters who's the. senator and who's the challenger. >> Let me just pause on this for a minute. cuz having looked at a sample ballot for. voters in Alaska, it does seem like this could for some be. slightly confusing. I mean, the name.

Daniel J. Sullivan is right on top of. Dan S. Sullivan, the incumbent. And the. only information that tells you which is. which is a mostly lowercase. parenthetical. next to Dan S. Sullivan's name that says. registered Republican and then the next. word is incumbent. So yes, there's. information there that differentiates. the Dan Sullivans, but it's not hugely. prominent on this ballot. [snorts]. >> Yeah, that's true. And it's what.

Republicans are worried about. They are. concerned that a Republican voter will. be confused, will vote for Dan J. Sullivan, and he will get the vote, and. Dan S. Sullivan will not benefit from. that voter. I should note that Alaska. has a system called ranked choice. voting. It allows you to rank your all. four candidates on the ballot in order. of preference. So, if you're a. Republican that's fully filling out your. ballot, you rank Dan J first, let's say, but you rank Dan S. Sullivan, the.

incumbent senator second. He will. ultimately get your vote because we. anticipate Dan J. Sullivan will not be. in contention. He will be eliminated as. they tally the votes in this rank choice. system. That scenario could mitigate. some of this confusion. Got it. But it. would not seem to mitigate the fury of. the Trump administration. which has absorbed your reporting and. seems very very agitated by it. And I.

have to believe that the president will. incorporate this into his larger. argument rhetorically that Democrats are. trying in in his words to steal. elections even if ultimately getting. this other Dan Sullivan on the ballot. was legal and even if this tactic is. somewhat common in American politics. Yeah, I can tell you that just a few. minutes ago, President Trump posted on. Truth Social saying that it had been. determined that Democrats in Alaska, he.

says, quote, "Illegally searched for and. recruited a man named Dan Sullivan to. run against our distinguished Republican. senator." Now, the word illegal is. certainly a disputable claim, but you. can see that they are already adopting. this argument. >> Mhm. In the end, it seems, Kellen, this. really becomes a question of ethics, I. guess, and what we expect from our. elected officials, especially our. senators. I mean, the Senate is arguably. the most prestigious elected office in.

the country outside of the executive. branch. And you might expect that. recruiting a candidate with the same. name would happen in a city council race. or a, you know, burough president race. Here I'm being a little parochial about. New York, but not necessarily a race for. the United States Senate. So, how do you. think your reporting that makes clear. that the Democrats went and recruited.

this other Dan Sullivan and tried to. confuse voters on the other side is. going to land with voters in Alaska? >> I think there will be some Democrats who. say this is the kind of allout tactics. the party needs to embrace in the Trump. era when they feel that democracy is on. the line. And of course, there will be. many Republicans who are furious about. this. I think Senator Sullivan could. make a field day out of it in the. closing days of the race, but many.

voters may simply not care about how Dan. J. Sullivan got on the ballot. They're. focused on their lives. They're focused. on the economy, gas prices, all of these. things that have been an issue. throughout this race. This is an incredibly close competitive. race, and [music]. it's too early to tell exactly how this. will play out, but there's one thing we. know for sure. Democrats did not want. this story to come out and they. certainly did not want it to come out. just days before the election.

>> Well, Kellen, thank you very much. We. really appreciate it. >> Thank you. [music] You can read more from Kellen. Browning and our entire political desk. on the New York Times app. The Times is. making all of its election coverage free. inside the app for a limited time. There. you'll find in-depth analysis, [music]. poll trackers, and live updates. throughout the midterms. Plus, if it's.

your first time downloading the NYT app, you can [music] access all of our. journalism [snorts] free for 30 days. So, give it a try. We'll be right back. Here's what else you need [music] to. know today. Officials in Spain are. blaming human error for a horrific train. crash on Wednesday morning that killed.

at least 68 people. The accident. occurred when one high-speed passenger. [music] train rearended another near the. city of Toledo. Shortly before the collision, train. [music] traffic controllers told one. train to continue on its journey, even. though another train was stopped about. 15 mi ahead of it on the same track. [music] Spain's transportation minister. called that decision quote, inexplicable.

The accident comes months after another. deadly collision in Spain that involved. the same train carriers [music] and the. same route. In that crash back in. January, 46 people [music] were killed. [music] Today's episode was produced by. Lexi Dial, Anna Foley, and Carlos Prito. with help from Eric Krupky. It was. [music] edited by Maria Burn and Paige. Cowat. Contains music by Alicia Baup,

[music] Dan Powell, and Marian Lozano. And was engineered by Chris Wood. Our. theme [music] music is by Wonderly. That's it for the daily. I'm [music]. Michael Boro. See you tomorrow.