Even if Mary Peltola wins Alaska’s Senate race on Tuesday, I don’t think Americans should treat the result as fully legitimate. That responsibility rests with her campaign, and with the party if the reported scheme is borne out.
For years, Democrats and their allies have warned that election-related misinformation threatens democracy. The Biden administration spoke in stark terms about political opponents and pursued people it accused of undermining elections, sometimes with consequences for their freedom and reputations. The message was clear: casting doubt on an election was a grave offense, whatever the circumstances.
What has now been reported about Alaska makes that campaign look deeply hollow.
Political maneuvering is nothing new. But a recent investigation, based on interviews, messages, and internal documents, describes a more calculated effort: Peltola campaign aides, lawyers, and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee staff allegedly worked to put another Dan Sullivan on the ballot, hoping voters would confuse him with Republican incumbent Dan S. Sullivan.
Peltola’s former campaign manager, Elisa Rios, reportedly said Peltola was “definitely aware,” though Rios later tried to retract the comment. Peltola denies knowing about the effort. Still, the reported messages and documents deserve more than a quick dismissal in a press statement.
This is not simply a dispute between two candidates. If voters were deliberately confused, the electoral process itself was the target. The Justice Department revised its lawsuit to address the reporting, Alaska’s governor called for an investigation, and House Republicans launched a separate inquiry.
On Sunday, a federal judge dismissed the Justice Department’s case, ruling that the government lacked standing and had not offered a workable way to inspect ballots while protecting voter privacy. The department says it will appeal. The ruling does not settle what the reporting uncovered or establish who organized the alleged effort.
It’s worth remembering how the Biden Justice Department handled my friend Douglass Mackey’s case. Prosecutors accused him of using an election meme to discourage targeted groups from voting, and described the case as a defense of Americans’ constitutional rights. Yet the government did not identify a single voter who had been prevented from casting a ballot. In July 2025, a unanimous appeals court overturned Mackey’s conviction and ordered his acquittal, finding prosecutors had not shown that he knowingly joined the alleged conspiracy.
The administration’s confidence in that case went well beyond what prosecutors proved. But the language they used to condemn Mackey could just as easily describe the alleged Alaska operation. A functioning republic depends on voters being able to make informed choices. Deliberately misleading them is plainly wrong.
Even a few hundred confused voters could affect the outcome of this Senate race—and potentially the balance of power in the chamber.
Democrats have mostly played down the allegations or stayed quiet. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s office said he had no knowledge of, or involvement in, the effort. But that statement did not say the alleged scheme was wrong. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, meanwhile, shifted attention to Republicans.
For years, Democrats argued that staying silent about election-related deception amounted to complicity. By that standard, the reported conduct of Peltola’s campaign should concern the broader party, particularly given the alleged involvement of its Senate campaign committee. Those involved should have to answer for what happened.
Lisa Murkowski should not escape scrutiny, either. She has condemned the alleged scheme, but Alaska’s election system helped create an opening for it.
In 2020, Alaska replaced partisan primaries with a top-four primary and ranked-choice voting in general elections. Under that system, the candidate with the most first-choice votes can still lose as lower-ranked candidates are eliminated and their ballots transfer. The top-four primary is what allowed the second Dan Sullivan to reach November’s ballot.
The system was intended, in part, to protect Murkowski from a primary challenge, and political allies of hers helped establish it. Scott Kendall, one of its leading architects, had worked on her campaigns. A manager for the ballot initiative later handled communications for Murkowski’s 2022 reelection campaign. Some Alaska Democrats even called the measure the “Lisa Law.” It is within this system that the alleged deception could have real consequences.
Murkowski has also endorsed Peltola twice in House races and publicly praised her character.
Given the reporting so far, a Peltola win should not be treated as beyond question. The result may ultimately be certified in her favor, but the allegations will leave a lasting shadow over it. The reported effort was designed to confuse Alaska voters. Those who organized it—and Democrats who refuse to condemn it—should not simply be given the benefit of the doubt.
