Democrats on Sunday shrugged off a ploy by their party to trick voters into casting ballots for the wrong Republican candidate in Alaska’s Senate race.
Sen. Bernard Sanders of Vermont, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, called the scheme that put a candidate named Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. on the same ballot as Sen. Daniel S. Sullivan “pretty dumb … but it’s not illegal.”
Mr. Sanders, a member of the Senate Democratic leadership, compared it to the Ohio Senate race, where Republicans are funneling money into the candidacy of a third-party socialist candidate who may draw votes away from Democrat Sherrod Brown.
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“No, it is not a good thing to do. It’s a stupid thing,” Mr. Sanders said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, said the so-called Decoy Dan scheme “happens all over the place” and “that’s the law across America.”
Mr. Raskin told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he believes Democratic candidate Mary Peltola’s claim that she had nothing to do with the scheme.
“She is a public official filled with integrity and purpose,” he said.
According to a New York Times report, Democrats said Ms. Peltola was “fully aware” of the plan to recruit the retired school teacher and Trump hater to get himself onto the ballot in order to pull votes away from the incumbent Republican who shares his name.
“There are people who have the same name who are running in all 50 states,” Mr. Raskin said, without citing examples. “That happens all over the place.”
He criticized the scheme, which he said was perfectly legal. “I’m sure I would never do it. It’s stupid politics,” he said. “Nobody would do that.”
The law, he said, can’t prohibit a person from getting onto the ballot.
“Nowhere is there a law which says If you have the same name as somebody who got on the ballot first, you can’t get on the ballot,” Mr. Raskin said, adding that Alaska distinguished the two Dan Sullivans on the ballot by identifying the senator as the incumbent.
“It could not be clearer,” Mr. Raskin said.
The Washington Times has tried repeatedly to contact Daniel J. Sullivan Jr.
According to the New York Times, the effort to recruit and put him on the ballot was known not only by Ms. Peltola’s campaign but by the Senate Democratic campaign arm, headed by Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer of New York.
The GOP-led House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is investigating, as well as the Justice Department, which last month sued to preemptively block certification of the race if Ms. Peltola wins and her victory appears to have been enabled by voter confusion over the two Sullivans.
Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy, a Republican, has also opened an investigation.
Daniel S. Sullivan, the incumbent, is running neck-and-neck with Ms. Peltola. A small number of votes could decide the winner. In the primary, Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. received 2.5% of the vote.
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