Mary Peltola definitely aware Dems searched for another Dan Sullivan to confuse voters in Alaska race: bombshell report

WASHINGTON — Top campaign aides for Alaska Senate hopeful Mary Peltola were instructed to search for people named Dan Sullivan they could recruit for the contest, and she was “definitely aware,” a bombshell report revealed.The goal was to siphon votes away from incumbent Sen.

Dan S.Sullivan (R-Alaska), and allies of Peltola managed to succeed in the recruitment effort, the New York Times reported.

“Alaskan voters need to know,” Elisa Rios, Peltola’s former campaign manager, who was ousted during a dramatic staff overhaul in August, told the outlet.“There was a lot of speculation, and voters should get the full picture when making their decisions,” she added, noting that Peltola was not directly involved in the recruitment effort, but “definitely aware.”Ultimately, retired public school teacher Dan J.

Sullivan, referred to by his critics as “Decoy Dan,” jumped into the race just before the deadline and made the cut for the top four candidates ahead of the deadline.Peltola’s campaign has repeatedly denied accusations that it played a hand in recruiting “Decoy Dan,” but the New York Times interviewed a dozen people involved with or informed about the plan and reviewed text messages.Rios, who is gearing up for a lawsuit against the Peltola campaign over her firing, later attempted to retroactively retract all of her statements to the outlet about the efforts to recruit another Dan Sullivan.Aides at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) were also involved in the gambit, which was aimed at pulling votes away from Sen.

Sullivan through confusion.The DSCC denied involvement.“The Alaskans for Mary campaign has no involvement with either Sullivan campaign,” Peltola’s campaign told The Post in a statement when asked about the report.

“Like Mary, our campaign is focused on lowering costs and fixing the rigged system in DC.”The campaign also pointed The Post to a list of examples of Republican-led spoiler efforts in Demo...