Murkowski Shifts After NYT Reveals Election Scheme Allegations
Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski initially defended a scheming opponent but condemned the scheme after NYT report.
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Republican Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski initially dismissed the Trump administration’s attempt to block Alaska’s Senate election results over a candidate with the same name as incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan — but changed her tune after a New York Times report detailed allegations of a coordinated effort to manipulate the race.
Democrat Mary Peltola’s campaign and aides from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee allegedly tried to sabotage Republican Alaska Sen. Dan S. Sullivan’s reelection chances by recruiting a candidate with the same name and getting him on the ranked-choice ballot, The New York Times (NYT) reported. Before the report, however, Murkowski defended the scheming opponent, Dan J. Sullivan, and dismissed the Trump administration and Department of Justice’s legal challenge.
“Alaskans don’t need any help voting for their preferred candidates, and the State of Alaska has already handled this by clearly distinguishing the candidates on this year’s ballot,” Murkowski said Oct. 23. “The Department of Justice should never have filed this lawsuit.”
Alaskans don’t need any help voting for their preferred candidates, and the State of Alaska has already handled this by clearly distinguishing the candidates on this year’s ballot. The Department of Justice should never have filed this lawsuit. https://t.co/88tGvV0P8O
After the NYT report, Murkowski condemned the Peltola campaign’s alleged scheme and manipulation as “ballot-stacking” that “should have no place in our electoral process.”
“Run and win on your merits: your views, your policy ideas, and your accomplishments,” Murkowski said. “By contrast, recruiting candidates to manipulate the field and influence voting outcomes is simply wrong. Alaskans deserve the honest truth from Mary and her campaign—what has been revealed is a pattern of lies and coverups and a culture of deception that belongs nowhere in our elections or among our elected officials.”
While some may try to write this off as just how politics works now, ballot-stacking should have no place in our electoral process. Run and win on your merits: your views, your policy ideas, and your accomplishments. By contrast, recruiting candidates to manipulate the field and influence voting outcomes is simply wrong. Alaskans deserve the honest truth from Mary and her campaign—what has been revealed is a pattern of lies and coverups and a culture of deception that belongs nowhere in our elections or among our elected officials.
According to the NYT, a political operative using a fake name made secret trips throughout remote Alaskan communities trying to pitch other “Dan Sullivans” on running for Senate. Peltola’s campaign lawyers, as well as DSCC aides, reportedly had regular conversations about the scheme and considered creating a fake political party that could entice conservatives onto the ballot.
Alaska has an open voting system, meaning a candidate does not have to be vetted by a political party before claiming that party’s affiliation. On Thursday, Republican Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy ordered state officials at the Department of Public Safety to investigate the alleged scheme.
“The evidence will determine what happens next,” Dunleavy said. “Alaskans have a fundamental right to vote for the candidate they actually intend to support. Deliberately tricking voters into casting their ballots for someone else strikes at the integrity of our elections.”
Murkowski previously endorsed Peltola twice: during her 2022 and 2024 runs for Congress. “I have just great respect and admiration for her,” Murkowski said in October 2024. “I think she has done a good job for all Alaskans. I admire her ability to stand up to the different political forces that are out there and just be guided by her own sense of what is right for Alaska, and I think that our state would be well served if she were allowed to continue in this very important position in the Congress.”
“I refer to her as a friend, and I don’t refer to her necessarily as a Democrat,” she added.
Source: Daily Caller
