Sullivan calls Peltola's decoy candidate plan a lie

Anchorage, Alaska. U.S. Sen. Dan S. Sullivan accused his opponent, Mary Peltola, of lying to voters about a strategy to confuse the ballot. Sullivan made the comments during an interview with CNN host Jake Tapper on Nov. 1. The dispute centers on a recent article in The New York Times. The piece quoted a former campaign manager for Peltola. That manager said Peltola knew about the plan to put a decoy candidate named Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. on the ballot.

Sullivan argued the evidence is clear. He pointed to text messages included in the newspaper story. Those messages were sent by the people involved in the scheme. Sullivan said the documents show the plan was active for about a year. He stated that Peltola could not have been unaware of the activity.

"There's no way that this went on for a year that they weren't informing her on," Sullivan said. "It's just a complete fabrication. And she's got caught lying, and she's still lying to the Alaskan people, to the media, to all of us."

The decoy candidate, Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., is a political unknown. Sullivan described the plot as a dirty trick. He said the goal was to trick Alaskans into throwing the vote in a way that favors Peltola. Sullivan noted that aides in the Peltola campaign mocked Alaskans in the text messages. He said they referred to duping the state's voters.

Sullivan called the newspaper article a smoking gun. He said it shows the campaign chose to cheat and deceive Alaskans at the ballot box. He acknowledged that the scheme is working because the decoy is currently on the ballot. He said he expects to lose votes to that trickery.

Sullivan urged Alaskans to vote to defeat the decoy scheme. He said many voters, including Democrats, believe Peltola is not fit for office. He said she continues to lie to the public. Sullivan said he will accept the election results if Alaskans get out and vote. He told voters not to let the election be stolen.