Washington Examiner investigations editor Sarah Bedford analyzed the New York Times report alleging that Alaska Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola’s campaign conspired to confuse voters with a second candidate named Dan Sullivan.
“It kind of falls into the category of something that’s not that surprising, but also completely shocking, because this was a suspicion that a lot of Republicans had that the Democrats were involved in this,” Bedford said Wednesday on The Hugh Hewitt Show.
The New York Times reported that a former campaign manager accused Peltola’s team of coordinating with Democratic operatives to recruit candidates named Dan Sullivan to dilute votes away from the Republican incumbent with the same name.
Bedford said she was surprised to see that the outlet “didn’t pull their punches.”
“It sounded like they had an opportunity to, because if you read the story, the original source for the story of the former campaign manager of Mary Peltola’s, tried to recant her story to her interviews and the details that she provided about the fake Dan Sullivan scheme,” Bedford said.
The effort was allegedly coordinated between Peltola’s campaign, including lawyers, and senior aides at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
“To see [that the] Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee was involved in this and the Elias Group law firm, and the senior aides in Mary Peltola’s campaign, were involved in coordinating this, it’s really shocking stuff,” Bedford said.
The Justice Department filed a lawsuit Friday seeking to block Alaska’s Senate election results if it believed “voter confusion” led to incorrect voting.
WHAT COMES NEXT FOR MARY PELTOLA AS HER CAMPAIGN FACES DECOY INVESTIGATION
Peltola’s campaign and the DSCC have denied involvement.
The Washington Examiner reached out to Peltola’s campaign and the DSCC for comment.