White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller broke into a tirade on Fox News over the Alaska ballot, where Republicans are accusing Democrat Mary Peltola of stealthily putting a candidate with the same name as incumbent GOP Sen. Dan Sullivan onto the ballot to confuse voters.
"To lie so casually, so repeatedly, so comfortably — it's genuinely sociopathic!" said Miller. "And they lied again, and again, and again, when everyone knows the truth. The only reason that Dan Sullivan has a fake Dan, a decoy Dan running against him, is that Democrats orchestrated it."
Recruiting or trying to boost the profile of so-called "ghost candidates" to spoil the other side is a tactic used by both parties frequently across the country, and it's not necessarily illegal unless some sort of financial fraud is involved.
Alaska also has a ranked-choice voting system designed specifically to prevent lesser candidates from acting as spoilers, which Republicans are ironically trying to repeal.
The second Sullivan's campaign has already been litigated and upheld by the Alaska Supreme Court. Peltola and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee have both denied any involvement in recruiting the second Dan Sullivan to the ballot.
A recent New York Times article, citing a dozen sources along with texts and documents, quoted a former Peltola staffer as saying that Peltola was at least aware of efforts to boost the second Dan Sullivan. That staffer moved to retract her claims ahead of The Times publishing its story.
Nonetheless, Republicans have still seized on the story. The Trump administration is preparing litigation against Alaska to block certification if Peltola wins, and Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy has refused to commit to certifying the Senate race, although due to how Alaska's governor terms work, it is possible Democrats could have control of his office by the time that needs to happen.
Report typos and corrections to corrections@rawstory.com.
For customer support contact support@rawstory.com.





