State and federal prosecutors in Alaska are investigating whether the campaign for a U.S.Senate candidate who has the same name as the Republican incumbent could be part of a conspiracy to confuse voters, two people with knowledge of the investigations told NBC News.Limited time: Save 25% on NBC News subscriptionGet exclusive reporting, live Q&As and ad-free reading.Dan J.
Sullivan, a former teacher, announced his campaign in May and recently registered as a Republican.He has said he’s mounting a legitimate effort to unseat the other Sullivan, Dan S.
Sullivan, who has been in office since 2015.But Sen.Dan S.
Sullivan and Republicans have alleged that the newcomer launched the campaign in an attempt to confuse voters and that he’s working with the Democratic challenger Mary Peltola.Just this week, the Alaska Supreme Court ruled that Dan J.Sullivan can stay on the state’s August primary ballot.
The state’s elections division had initially disqualified the challenger from the ballot, with Elections Director Carol Beecher alleging that the challenger filed to run “with a purpose to confuse or mislead” voters.Now, NBC News has learned, the FBI, the Alaska attorney general and the U.S.attorney’s office in Alaska are all investigating whether two or more people conspired to create the Sullivan challenger’s campaign with the intention to confuse voters, hurt the incumbent and boost votes for Peltola.It is possible that both the Sullivans and Peltola could all be on the November ballot, since the top four vote-getters in the Aug.
18 primary advances to the general election, regardless of party affiliation.The general election contest is then decided by ranked-choice voting.Alaska’s Senate race will be key to the fight for Senate control in November’s midterm elections, with Democrats looking to net four seats to take control of the chamber.
And Democrats have held up Peltola as a strong recruit, saying Alaska is a prime pickup opportunity, even ...