Oct 29, 2026 · 27 min
Listen from 17:18
Listen at 17:18
Democrats recruited a lookalike candidate in Alaska
A Plan for Two Dans: How Democrats Manipulated Alaska’s Ballot
The episode examines an ethically fraught ballot strategy whose legality remains uncertain and whose effects may be limited by ranked-choice voting.
- 1Democratic operatives helped recruit Dan J. Sullivan to divide conservative support in Alaska’s Senate race.
- 2The reporting connects the effort to senior Mary Peltola aides and operative Jared Kurtz through former campaign staff.
- 3The scheme’s legality is unresolved, while nearly identical names raise voter-confusion concerns under ranked-choice voting.
Don't miss
Former campaign staffers connect the firings of Mary Peltola aides to a covert effort to recruit Dan J. Sullivan.
The brief
Alaska’s Senate race featured two candidates named Dan Sullivan, prompting Republicans to suspect a Democratic effort to divide conservative support.
Kellen Browning meets Dan J. Sullivan, who calls himself a moderate Republican but declines to explain his connections to Democratic consultant Amber Lee.
After Mary Peltola fired several longtime aides, former staffers led Browning to a plan involving senior aides and national Democratic operatives.
Operative Jared Kurtz used pseudonyms to contact potential candidates and helped recruit Dan J. Sullivan, though the full network remains partly obscured.
The reporting finds no established illegality, but the strategy raises ethical questions about voter confusion and how ranked-choice voting changes its potential impact.
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