US Vice President JD Vance speaks to the media at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, October 27, 2026. Vance is travelling to Michigan to attend a rally ahead of the midterm elections. Saul Loeb/Pool via REUTERS
Vice President JD Vance lashed out at reporters Tuesday, telling them to “do your job” and cutting off a question as he accused Democrats of “electoral fraud” in Alaska’s U.S. Senate race.
Speaking on the tarmac before flying to a Michigan rally, Vance was asked whether Alaska voters can simply read the word “incumbent” on their ballots to tell the two candidates named Dan Sullivan apart.
“I think the question presumes quite a bit,” Vance replied in the exchange, which aired on CNN. “When you put a person on the ballot explicitly to try to confuse voters, I think that’s the definition of electoral fraud.”
He then turned on the press.
“And by the way, I think that if it was if the shoe was on the other foot, if we were running somebody whose name was Mary [Peltola] in the state of Alaska, the media would be accusing us of election fraud,” he continued before lecturing, “So I think you guys should actually do your job and ask some difficult questions of the Democratic Party. Why are they trying to confuse people? You're right: a lot of people won't fall for it, but some people are going to be confused by that. It's just human nature.”
When a reporter followed up about Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s administration, Vance cut in: “You’ve asked your question, thank you.”
The second candidate, Daniel J. Sullivan, is a retired Petersburg schoolteacher who calls himself a “pragmatic Republican centrist” and denies any Democratic involvement in his campaign. Republicans, however, have pointed to his ties to Democrats, including a strategist who has worked on Democratic campaigns and helped launch his bid. He also donated to Peltola’s past campaigns.
The state’s Division of Elections tried to remove him from the ballot, but courts reinstated him, and he advanced from the August primary with 2.5% of the vote. The ballot lists the senator as the Republican incumbent.
The Justice Department sued last week to block certification of the race if Peltola wins while Daniel J. Sullivan draws votes, Alaska Public Media reported.
Vance also took aim at Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic Senate nominee in Michigan, whom Trump called a “jihadist” on Monday. Vance said El-Sayed “certainly has a lot of weird friends” and has engaged in “explicitly anti-white racial hatred,” though he added, “I don’t know what’s in the guy’s heart.”
Vance was traveling to Michigan to campaign for El-Sayed’s Republican opponent, former Rep. Mike Rogers.