House Oversight Democrat says Alaska should investigate Peltola allegations

Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif) called on Alaskan officials to investigate recent reports alleging Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola’s campaign recruited her midterm opponent, Daniel J. Sullivan, Jr., to counter incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan’s (R-Alaska) reelection bid.

“Republicans and Donald Trump should certainly not be lecturing anybody on a fair election process. I think the state of Alaska should do its job,” Garcia, ranking member of the House Oversight committee, said during a Thursday CNN appearance.

“They should investigate any time there is accusations of any kind of issue. Those should be done at the state level. There’s no question.”

Garcia’s remarks come after The New York Times reported Wednesday Peltola aides and outside Democrats recruited another Dan Sullivan for Alaska’s Senate race in an effort to dilute the GOP’s vote. Peltola, a former House lawmaker, denied the allegations.

“I think there should be an investigation,” the lawmaker continued.

The California Democrat went on to note that term-limited Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), the committee’s chair, still has “a couple more months” in office and “can certainly bring up any hearing he wants.”

Comer launched a probe Thursday into the matter, planning hearings for Nov. 5 and 6. He has called both Elisa Rios, Peltola’s former campaign manager, and Jerid Kurtz, a Democratic operative the Times alleged was also involved in the operation, to appear.

“I think what’s important is it appears that whoever was involved in this was fired by the Peltola campaign over the summer. I think the state of Alaska should take any lead in investigations,” Garcia said.

The lawmaker added he believed “that this isn’t going to be a big issue on election day.”

“People understand who Dan Sullivan is. They understand who Mary Peltola is. I think we’ll see that on Tuesday,” he concluded.

The “ballot stacking” of which Peltola is accused is not illegal, GOP strategists previously told The Hill. It is a common practice for Democratic and Republican campaigns, especially in Alaska’s unusual nonpartisan, top four voting system.

Despite this, President Trump has insisted on social media Peltola should not be allowed to run for Senate due to the allegations and called for prosecution against those involved.

“The Democrats cheated! They found a man named Dan Sullivan, put him on the Ballot, then lied to the Court, and said they didn’t know anything about it. That’s perjury. She shouldn’t be allowed to run, and neither should the FAKE Dan Sullivan!” he wrote on Truth Social .