The Country Take · October 29, 2026
Panel
Second Dan Sullivan: crime or dirty politics?
The New York Times reports aides to Mary Peltola helped recruit a second Dan Sullivan onto Alaska's Senate ballot. We put one question to three panels: is the second-Dan-Sullivan effort a crime, or just dirty politics? Each answer is one continuous excerpt.
Is the second-Dan-Sullivan effort a crime, or just dirty politics?
- From the LeftCNN · CNN panelist
…I would take the rhetoric more seriously if they were calling for the same thing to happen in Montana, where a similar move is being done with, apparently, allegedly, with a Republican plant running as a Democrat in that race for the local political environment. I mean, the point is this is something that does happen from time to time. They want to bring perjury charges, that's fine, but as an electoral matter, again, this is going to be up to the voters of Alaska.
'the rhetoric' = Trump's call for perjury consequences
- CenterNewsNation · Geraldo Rivera, The Daily Take
…I don't believe that it's a crime. I really don't believe that a crime has been committed. But there is no doubt that the Peltola campaign has been very, very sleazy. They went out and tried to recruit a candidate, a Sullivan candidate. They succeeded. They intentionally did this. The New York Times had people inside. They have excellent sources.
- From the RightFox News · former deputy assistant attorney general (America Reports guest)
…the Democratic campaign for engaging in these dirty tricks. But it's not just dirty tricks. There could be violations of federal law here. You can imagine that the congresswoman and her staff and the DSCC and the PACs that were intermediating between the two are all going to have to get lawyers and all should be immediately investigated by the Justice Department. They could have committed mail and wire fraud. They could have been lying in their campaign reports.
sentence opens: voters of Alaska will punish ...
What we heard
One panelist says it happens and it's up to voters; one calls it sleazy but not a crime; one says it could break federal law. The New York Times, which broke the story, calls ballot-stacking 'generally considered legal.' Alaska's governor has ordered an investigation.
Sources: