The legacy media has been tying itself in knots over the explosive Alaska ballot scandal that has rocked a key Senate race ahead of Tuesday's election.

The New York Times published a bombshell report alleging that Democratic operatives recruited a man named Dan Sullivan to run as a spoiler candidate against incumbent Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan of Alaska, in hopes of aiding his Democratic opponent, former Rep. Mary Peltola.

CNN anchor Dana Bash went viral shortly after the Times broke its story when she reacted, "So, this is not illegal. It is not new."

BARI WEISS FACED 'SIGNIFICANT RESISTANCE' FROM CBS NEWS STAFFERS ABOUT ALASKA BALLOT SCANDAL, INSIDERS SAY

"I use the term dirty tricks intentionally because it’s not illegal," Bash said.

"This is something that is untoward. It is something that Democrats have tried to do in races where they think it could be to their advantage to run candidates that could siphon votes away from Republicans, and Republicans do the same," Bash continued. "I mean, just in Alaska alone, Mary Peltola, who’s now on the ballot for the Senate, she lost her House race two years ago. On that ballot, there was a candidate who was literally in prison who was reportedly recruited and kept on the ballot at the behest of Republicans."

The CNN host reiterated, "These are dirty tricks. They are legal, dirty tricks."

Some outlets relied on the "Republicans pounce" trope, adjusting the framing of stories that reflect poorly on Democrats to focus on the reaction of Republicans.

"Trump, Murkowski hammer Peltola over Alaska ballot-stacking report," Politico's headline read Wednesday.

The Associated Press similarly ran Wednesday, "Trump calls for prosecution of Democratic Alaska Senate candidate over spoiler candidate controversy."

"Republicans launch investigations into Peltola campaign," The Washington Post's Thursday headline stated.

"Republicans are using it as fodder," MS NOW anchor Peter Alexander told viewers Thursday. "The Justice Department, which already preemptively sued to try to block the certification of that Senate race if the Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan loses, they're pouncing."

Honest Elections Project executive director Jason Snead isn’t surprised some in the media are bending over backwards to keep a Democrat from looking scandalous.

"This is a classic thing that we've been seeing with a lot of mainstream outlets, this idea that they're going to be more concerned about the Republican reaction to something seedy that the left is doing rather than the seedy thing itself, right? It's a very classic situation," Snead told Fox News Digital.

"I'm not surprised at all that we're seeing so many outlets today trying to either downplay the scandal up in Alaska, or to refocus on what Trump is doing or saying about it," he continued. "We know the media has double standards when it comes to the left and the right."

DEM STRATEGIST SHRUGS OFF ALASKA BALLOT SCANDAL ON MS NOW, INSISTS 'THIS STUFF HAPPENS ALL THE TIME'

Meanwhile, Bloomberg columnist Nia Malika-Henderson appeared to praise the effort, saying that grassroots Democrats would view the scheme as a "good thing" that Democrats "finally" are "bringing a knife to a knife fight."

"I was sort of impressed that they were able to pull all of this off," Malika-Henderson said Thursday on CNN, before lamenting how the story got leaked to the Times and how it will give President Donald Trump "wind in his sails" in his accusations that Democrats cheat in elections.

Some journalists, including ABC News correspondent Mary Bruce and CBS News correspondent Ed O'Keefe, stressed to viewers that the Democratic scheme was "not illegal" despite newly launched probes looking into the matter since the Times story broke.

NBC News published multiple videos on its website posing questions like, "Is it illegal for Peltola campaign to recruit candidates?" and "Is it illegal to convince someone to run for office?"

ALASKA'S GOVERNOR ORDERS INVESTIGATION AFTER NYT REPORT ON ALLEGED DEM-LINKED SENATE ELECTION SCHEME

Republicans have long been suspicious about the candidacy of Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., a retired teacher who is among four Senate candidates listed on Alaska's rank-choice ballot. The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the state of Alaska seeking to block certification of the election results if the incumbent senator loses and votes cast for the other Sullivan could have changed the outcome.

Mainstream articles taking their denials dating back to at least June have largely taken them as fact. The Associated Press even wrote, "Sullivan said his campaign isn’t a sham or something Democrats put him up to doing," months before the Times reported his candidacy was no coincidence.

"In the summer of 2025, a staffer for Mary Peltola, the Alaska Democrat who was eyeing a run for Senate, received unusual instructions from top campaign aides: Find as many people named Dan Sullivan in Alaska as you can," the Times began its report Wednesday.

"The staffer complied, combing through voter records to produce a list of Dan Sullivans from across the state. ... [I]f the Peltola campaign or its allies could track down and persuade another Dan Sullivan to run for Senate, the confusion could cost the senator crucial votes on the state’s unusual, four-person ballot. The plan worked," the report said.

Snead believes that the "evidence was obvious," and blasted reporters who didn’t suspect something fishy was at play.

"Those willing to look have known for months that Decoy Dan’s candidacy is a brazen attempt to game ranked-choice voting, orchestrated by Democrats to help Mary Peltola win. That the mainstream media took the Peltola campaign’s and Democrats’ denials at face value for months and waited until nearly 60,000 Alaskans had already voted to reveal the truth, is unfortunately par for the course," Snead told Fox News Digital.

"Aren't you reporters? Shouldn't you have actually done some investigation, done some digging, or did you simply take the denial at face value and move on? Because that's not really what most people expect from serious investigative reporting outlets," he added.

SEN DAN SULLIVAN BRANDS PELTOLA'S ALLEGED BALLOT SCHEME A 'SCANDAL AT THE HIGHEST ORDER'

According to Peltola's former campaign manager, Elisa Rios, Peltola was not directly involved in the scheme but was "definitely aware."

Peltola's campaign has continued to deny involvement in his candidacy.

"But The Times has found, based on interviews and text messages, along with documents prepared for a potential lawsuit against the campaign, that not only did Ms. Peltola’s team work with people trying to recruit Mr. Sullivan to run for Senate, but the effort was much broader," the Times reported. "The group worked to coax other would-be spoilers into the race, to dilute the incumbent’s support and help catapult the Democrat to victory."

Peltola called the Times report a "distraction" and "stuff to sell newspapers." However, Republican Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy has ordered an investigation into whether any crimes or civil violations were committed and the Department of Justice has issued new grand jury subpoenas.

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The Senate’s No. 2 Republican believes that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., had a hand in the alleged scheme unfolding in the Alaska Senate race.

Operatives for Rep. Mary Peltola’s Senate campaign, along with top aides in Senate Democrats’ campaign apparatus, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), are alleged to have been involved in creating one of the stranger races this election cycle: finding and recruiting another candidate named Dan Sullivan to run against the incumbent Sen. Dan S. Sullivan, R-Alaska, according to reporting from The New York Times.

National Democrats have maintained they had no hand in the move, but Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., told Fox News Digital in an interview that he believes the campaign received help from the very top.

SEN DAN SULLIVAN BRANDS PELTOLA’S ALLEGED BALLOT SCHEME A ‘SCANDAL AT THE HIGHEST ORDER’

"I mean, this is criminal behavior to steal the Alaska Senate race, it's now been fully exposed," Barrasso said. "And there is proof that the Peltola campaign knew about it, and that Schumer schemed and colluded with them for over a year to try to search for and then coax a decoy of Dan Sullivan onto the ballot with a purpose only to deceive the voters."

Schumer’s office and Peltola's campaign did not respond to requests for comment from Fox News Digital.

The peculiar situation in Alaska has been ongoing for months and has sparked legal battles at the state and national levels, as well as condemnation from Republicans across the country, including Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska.

'DECOY DAN' SULLIVAN CASE LEADS TOP SENATOR TO BREAK FOUR-YEAR X SILENCE: 'PATTERN OF LIES'

Murkowski argued on X that "ballot-stacking should have no place in our electoral process."

"Alaskans deserve the honest truth from Mary and her campaign — what has been revealed is a pattern of lies and coverups and a culture of deception that belongs nowhere in our elections or among our elected officials," she said.

Much of the consternation over the matter is because of Alaska’s ranked-choice voting system, meaning that both candidates named Dan Sullivan, Peltola and Gerald Heikes will all appear on the same ballot.

Peltola weighed in on Thursday at an event in Juneau, Alaska, telling supporters she wanted to "clear the air."

PELTOLA CAMPAIGN'S ALLEGED DAN SULLIVAN SPOILER PLOT TAKES NEW TURN AS DOJ FACES MAJOR LEGAL HURDLE

"I knew nothing about any other candidates on the ballot except for me and the incumbent," Peltola said. "That is all I have ever known about. I am not interested in tricking voters. I know I can beat Dan Sullivan."

The point of the scheme was allegedly to sow confusion among voters as to which Sullivan was which in an attempt to give Peltola an edge. Barrasso said that while he was confident the incumbent Sullivan would win, the plan showed that the "Democratic campaign has secretly been making fun of Alaskan voters for being so easily tricked."

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"I mean, these people just are, you know, dirty, rotten scoundrels — cheaters," Barrasso said.

"I mean, how more cynical can you get than what the Democrats have done here," he continued.

Alaska Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola insisted she "knew nothing" about an alleged scheme to recruit people with the same name as her opponent to run in the election, while incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan told Fox News she is "still lying."

"I just want to clear the air," Peltola began in a speech to supporters on Thursday in Juneau. "I knew nothing about any other candidates on the ballot except for me and the incumbent. That is all I have ever known about. I am not interested in tricking voters. I know I can beat Dan Sullivan."

In an interview with Fox News, Sullivan, a Republican, said Peltola's campaign "demonstrated the most corrupt action you could take."

"Most candidates, when they run for office, I've run for office, and this is my third election. You sit down at the beginning of your election with your advisers to think about 'What's my record? I'm going to run on a strong record. What's my vision? What do I want to get done?' Peltola sat down with her advisers, Democrats from D.C. and Alaska, and their first order of business was 'how do we cheat? How do we make sure Alaskans throw away their votes?'" Sullivan said.

"This was a secret project that they had. And then they worked on it for over a year. And then she consistently lied about it. What's amazing to me is how consistently and casually everyone involved in this, from Kirsten Gillibrand and Schumer down to Peltola and her advisors, and everybody in between lied about this directly to the Alaskan people," Sullivan continued. "Heck, Peltola is still lying about it, right?"

SEN DAN SULLIVAN BRANDS PELTOLA’S ALLEGED BALLOT SCHEME A ‘SCANDAL AT THE HIGHEST ORDER’

The New York Times reported Wednesday that Peltola’s campaign, as well as senior aides at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, carried out the alleged election scheme in hopes that voters would be confused by two Dan Sullivans and therefore draw support from the incumbent Republican senator.

The Justice Department is moving to delay certification of Alaska’s U.S. Senate election results since two individuals by the name of Dan Sullivan appear alongside each other on the ballot. The state’s incumbent U.S. senator is listed on the ballot as "Sullivan, Dan S.," while the other Dan Sullivan, a retired schoolteacher, is listed as "Sullivan, Daniel J. Jr." The latter is known to his critics as "Decoy Dan."

PELTOLA CAMPAIGN'S ALLEGED DAN SULLIVAN SPOILER PLOT TAKES NEW TURN AS DOJ FACES MAJOR LEGAL HURDLE

Sen. Sullivan told Fox News correspondent Matt Finn that what he is hearing on the campaign trail is "the disdain that this shows that Peltola has for the Alaskan people."

"Think about it. Her first big move as a candidate, she hadn't announced her candidacy yet, was to rig the system and work together to cheat and to recruit a candidate whose sole purpose, we all know now, was to confuse Alaskans to rig the vote for her. It is a shocker. It's the biggest scandal in Alaskan electoral history by far," Sullivan said.

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"Mary Peltola and her campaign and the Democrats in D.C. and Alaska think the Alaskan people are dumb. We're not dumb," Sullivan added. "And this is going to have a huge impact on the election. We're going to win."

Fox News Digital's Nora Moriarty contributed to this report.

Alaska Republican gubernatorial candidate Bernadette Wilson said she was not surprised Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, crossed party lines to endorse her Democratic opponent in the governor's race.

Wilson told Fox News Digital that Murkowski endorsed Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins on Tuesday because the two share similar views on taxation and Alaska's oil industry.

"It should not surprise anyone. They're two peas in a pod, and I can tell you that as governor," Wilson told Fox News Digital.

FORMER STATE REP TOPS RANKED-CHOICE SLUGFEST AS ALASKA ADVANCES NOMINEES FOR GOVERNOR

"It doesn't surprise me that she is supporting the just keep taxing JKT," Wilson continued. "You know the guy that supports an increase in income tax, the guy that wants to double the fuel tax here in Alaska, the guy that has said ‘Hey I’m gonna come after the oil companies,' the guy that does not support paying out a full permanent fund dividend."

In August, during a candidate forum hosted by the Alaska Oil and Gas Association, Kreiss-Tomkins said he believes "broad-based tax and revenues of that nature are likely going to be necessary to balance our budget."

DEM SENATE HOPEFUL VOWS TO UNLEASH ALASKA OIL — BUT HER RECORD TELLS A DIFFERENT STORY

Wilson argued that Kreiss-Tomkins' economic policies align with Murkowski's, accusing both politicians of supporting what she described as "socialist policies."

The Republican candidate said she has been "sounding the alarm since 2010 about the fact that she was [subscribing] to extreme liberal socialist policies," referring to Murkowski.

Wilson also said she would not "assign motive" to Murkowski's decision to endorse Kreiss-Tomkins, though she did not rule out the possibility that the endorsement was intended as a rebuke of President Donald Trump.

Trump endorsed Wilson on Oct. 13, days before Murkowski announced her support for Kreiss-Tomkins.

Murkowski has opposed several legislative priorities backed by Trump during the 119th Congress, including the SAVE America Act, which would impose additional proof-of-citizenship requirements for voter registration.

In an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal in July, Murkowski wrote that "as written, the SAVE America Act isn’t a simple fix to safeguard elections, as proponents claim. It would impose costly new barriers and prevent some, perhaps many, from voting, while also creating chaos before the November elections."

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In January, Murkowski joined Senate Democrats in voting in favor of the War Powers Resolution, which failed but could have limited Trump’s ability to take military action against Iran.

The president then took to Truth Social to state that Murkowski "should never be elected to office again."

If elected governor, Wilson pledged in her video interview that she would continue to "sound the alarm" about Murkowski, whom she described as a "so-called Republican senator."

The candidate also characterized Murkowski's political positions as "absolutely terrible."

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Murkowski and Kreiss-Tomkins did not respond to Fox News Digital's requests for comment.

Alaska Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola is facing an onslaught of social media criticism over a resurfaced quote that critics say reeks of hypocrisy, following an explosive New York Times report this week.

"It should be a criminal offense to lie or mislead the electorate," Peltola says in the clip from August posted by the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) on Wednesday, shortly after The New York Times reported that her campaign was actively involved in a scheme to peel votes away from incumbent Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan by recruiting namesake and spoiler candidates.

Conservatives on social media quickly shared the post and suggested that Peltola should be investigated based on her own words.

"Your terms are acceptable," Townhall columnist Dustin Grage posted on X.

MARY PELTOLA'S CAMPAIGN, DEMS BACKED COVERT SCHEME TO FIELD SPOILER CANDIDATES IN ALASKA SENATE RACE: REPORT

"Turn yourself in, Mary Peltola," conservative radio host Jason Rantz posted on X.

"Amen, Mary! " former Trump campaign national press secretary Hogan Gidley posted on X.

"Well, that’s ironic… ," Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., posted on X.

"Agree!!! " Fox News contributor Marc Thiessen posted on X.

ALASKA'S GOVERNOR ORDERS INVESTIGATION AFTER NYT REPORT ON ALLEGED DEM-LINKED SENATE ELECTION SCHEME

The New York Times report rocked the Alaska Senate race, which could determine the balance of power in the Senate, as questions now swirl over the legality of the campaign's alleged actions. The Department of Justice and the state of Alaska are both investigating the genesis of the alleged scheme to recruit Dan J. Sullivan into the race against incumbent Dan S. Sullivan.

Fox News learned Wednesday that federal prosecutors are conducting an "aggressive criminal investigation" into how the second Sullivan secured a spot on Alaska's ballot, according to two sources familiar with the probe. Investigators are preparing grand jury subpoenas and examining potential violations of voters' rights, with the investigation expected to continue beyond Election Day. The DOJ declined to comment.

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Alaska's Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy announced that he was ordering a probe into the matter.

"Today’s New York Times reporting reveals disturbing new evidence of an organized effort to manipulate Alaska’s elections by recruiting candidates — including one with the same name as an incumbent U.S. Senator — to deliberately confuse voters and misdirect their votes. The Alaska Division of Elections investigated these very concerns in June of this year. The new reporting substantially supports the Division’s findings," Dunleavy noted in a post on X.

"I am therefore directing the Department of Public Safety to investigate whether this scheme violated Alaska’s laws and whether criminal charges or civil action are warranted. The evidence will determine what happens next," the GOP governor continued.

The DOJ has issued dozens of subpoenas in the past 24 hours, reportedly looking into whether the campaign violated federal law by conspiring against the rights of voters. Others have argued the alleged actions are not illegal, and simply a "dirty trick" that is sometimes utilized in campaigns.

Fox News Digital reached out to Peltola's campaign for comment.

Peltola has dismissed reports of the alleged election scheme as "just another distraction," arguing that The New York Times’ report was solely purposed to "sell newspapers."

Her campaign also continues to assert innocence, previously telling Fox News in part that the Alaskans for Mary campaign "has no involvement with either Sullivan campaign."

During a rally Wednesday, Alaska Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola dismissed a New York Times report alleging her campaign took part in an effort to peel votes away from incumbent Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan to a same-named rival, calling the story a "distraction" used to sell papers. 

"This is just another distraction," Peltola said in a video shared on X by local Alaskan writer Matt Tunseth. "It's another diversion. Every day, it’s some new, you know, ‘Look over here moment.’ Not Dan Sullivan, registered Republican, incumbent, voted for this war in Iran 14 times. Lisa Murkowski quit voting for that war in Iran six months ago, and he’s doubling and tripling down."

The New York Times published an investigation Wednesday that described a covert operation, internally dubbed the "ballot composition project," to recruit spoiler candidates with the same name as Sullivan. 

DEM BUCKS PARTY OVER ALLEGED ALASKA VOTE-SIPHONING EFFORT: 'NEITHER PARTY SHOULD BE DOING IT'

According to the report, a Peltola staffer was directed since 2025 to comb through state voter rolls to compile a list of Alaskans named Dan Sullivan.

The operation allegedly involved aides from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), top campaign advisors, party lawyers and an operative who traveled across the state under assumed names.

"The plan worked. This spring, a retired teacher from a tiny fishing village along the Alaska Panhandle, reachable only by air and sea, announced his candidacy for Senate. His name was Dan J. Sullivan," the Times reported.

At the rally, however, Peltola dismissed the report, claiming that it was made to "get subscriptions."

"And this is not somebody who’s working in our best interest. And anybody who’s working in our best interest isn’t going to talk about the nonsense. This is all stuff to sell newspapers. This is all stuff to get subscriptions. Nobody at The New York Times cares about affordability in Alaska," Peltola said.

SCHIFF ACCUSES DOJ OF TRYING TO 'SUBVERT' ELECTIONS AS GOP ALLEGES SAME-NAME CANDIDATE MEANT TO CONFUSE VOTERS

Fox News Digital reached out to the Peltola campaign and The New York Times for comment but did not immediately hear back. 

Sen. Sullivan campaign spokesperson Nate Adams told Fox News Digital, "Instead of admitting she has been caught red-handed in a scheme to manipulate and deceive Alaska voters, Mary Peltola's response is to attack the media outlets she has been lying to for months."

Elisa Rios, Peltola’s former campaign manager who was fired in August, told the Times that while Peltola was not directly involved in orchestrating the project, she was "definitely aware."

In a previous statement to Fox News, the DSCC said it was not involved with the other Sullivan campaign.

TRUMP SAYS 'WE ARE LOOKING INTO' OTHER DAN SULLIVAN ON ALASKA BALLOT, WARNS ABOUT GOVERNOR'S RACE

"Republicans have a long history of recruiting and propping up candidates in an attempt to boost their own campaigns, including recruiting a prisoner with a New York address to run against Mary Peltola and spending nearly half a million dollars to secure a spot on the ballot in Alaska for an Arizona resident in the Senate race this cycle," a DSCC spokesperson said.

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In a statement to The New York Times, Peltola’s campaign said, "The Alaskans for Mary campaign has no involvement with either Sullivan campaign and did not recruit any candidates into the race." 

EXCLUSIVE — CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss faced "significant resistance" from staff at Thursday's 9 a.m. meeting about the growing Alaska ballot controversy, network insiders told Fox News Digital.

"This is a scandal," Weiss declared to staff.

According to multiple sources on the call, several CBS News staffers pushed back at Weiss' enthusiasm over the bombshell New York Times report alleging Democrats schemed to find a Dan Sullivan to run against incumbent Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan, in hopes of aiding Democratic opponent Mary Peltola.

DEM STRATEGIST SHRUGS OFF ALASKA BALLOT SCANDAL ON MS NOW, INSISTS 'THIS STUFF HAPPENS ALL THE TIME'

Many on the call shrugged it off as routine politics and said Republicans have also engaged in similar scheming.

When Weiss asked for other examples of ballot confusion, "Face the Nation" moderator Margaret Brennan reportedly pointed to New Hampshire Senate candidate John Sununu, suggesting that midterm voters might confuse him with his brother, former Gov. Chris Sununu.

ALASKA'S GOVERNOR ODERS INVESTIGATION AFTER NYT REPORT ON ALLEGED DEM-LINKED SENATE ELECTION SCHEME

CBS News political correspondent Ed O'Keefe also insisted that such tactics are nothing new. Earlier that morning, during his appearance on "CBS Mornings," O'Keefe stressed to viewers that what happened in Alaska "could be a dirty trick, but it's not illegal," adding that "this has happened before, kind of." He pointed to the 2016 Alaska Senate race when former Anchorage mayor Dan Sullivan — no relation to the U.S. Senator of the same name — briefly ran against incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski in the GOP primary, hoping "name recognition" of the other sitting senator would help his own candidacy.

A separate CBS staffer on the call pushed back against the notion that colleagues like Brennan and O'Keefe were trying to downplay the scandal, telling Fox News Digital they were providing context to the story being discussed.

MARY PELTOLA'S CAMPAIGN, DEMS BACKED COVERT SCHEME TO FIELD SPOILER CANDIDATES IN ALASKA SENATE RACE: REPORT

The staffer also said the meeting was never contentious and that it was a "healthy, good conversation."

Still, Weiss called the uproar in Alaska a "great story" that the network should follow and urged staff to push for stories like the one The New York Times broke, calling it a "learning moment."

A spokesperson for CBS News declined to comment.

Republicans have long been suspicious about the candidacy of Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., a retired teacher who is among four Senate candidates listed on Alaska's rank-choice ballot. The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the state of Alaska seeking to block certification of the election results if the incumbent senator loses and votes cast for the other Sullivan could have changed the outcome.

On Wednesday, The New York Times alleged his candidacy was no coincidence.

"In the summer of 2025, a staffer for Mary Peltola, the Alaska Democrat who was eyeing a run for Senate, received unusual instructions from top campaign aides: Find as many people named Dan Sullivan in Alaska as you can," the Times began its report Wednesday. 

"The staffer complied, combing through voter records to produce a list of Dan Sullivans from across the state. ... [I]f the Peltola campaign or its allies could track down and persuade another Dan Sullivan to run for Senate, the confusion could cost the senator crucial votes on the state’s unusual, four-person ballot. The plan worked," the report said.

SEN DAN SULLIVAN BRANDS PELTOLA'S ALLEGED BALLOT SCHEME A 'SCANDAL AT THE HIGHEST ORDER'

According to Peltola's former campaign manager, Elisa Rios, Peltola was not directly involved in the scheme but was "definitely aware."

Peltola's campaign has denied involvement in his candidacy.

"But The Times has found, based on interviews and text messages, along with documents prepared for a potential lawsuit against the campaign, that not only did Ms. Peltola’s team work with people trying to recruit Mr. Sullivan to run for Senate, but the effort was much broader," the Times reported. "The group worked to coax other would-be spoilers into the race, to dilute the incumbent’s support and help catapult the Democrat to victory."

Peltola called the Times report a "distraction" and "stuff to sell newspapers." However, Republican Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy has ordered an investigation into whether any crimes or civil violations were committed.

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The reported recruitment by Democrats of a second "Dan Sullivan" to allegedly confuse voters in Alaska’s Senate race drew a rare public rebuke from Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, who appeared to break four years of silence on her personal X account.

The New York Times reported that members of Mary Peltola’s team helped recruit a candidate who shares the name of incumbent Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan, potentially confusing voters in a closely watched race that also features Republican Gerald Heikes.

In a statement on her personal account @LisaForSenate, Murkowski said the report "revealed… a pattern of lies and coverups" on the part of Peltola.

ALASKA'S GOVERNOR ORDERS INVESTIGATION AFTER NYT REPORT ON ALLEGED DEM-LINKED SENATE ELECTION SCHEME

"While some may try to write this off as just how politics works now, ballot-stacking should have no place in our electoral process," Murkowski said.

"Run and win on your merits: your views, your policy ideas, and your accomplishments. By contrast, recruiting candidates to manipulate the field and influence voting outcomes is simply wrong."

DEM STRATEGIST SHRUGS OFF ALASKA BALLOT SCANDAL ON MS NOW, INSISTS 'THIS STUFF HAPPENS ALL THE TIME'

"Alaskans deserve the honest truth from Mary and her campaign," she said, adding that such a "culture of deception" does not belong in elections or with lawmakers.

Her previous post on the account was dated November 2022 and featured a video message wishing Alaskans a happy Thanksgiving.

Murkowski's official Senate account posts regularly, with its two most recent posts criticizing the Trump Justice Department for launching a lawsuit in the "Decoy Dan" situation prior to the Times' report and highlighting her visit to the Alaska Federation of Natives Convention.

The Times reported this week that the effort extended beyond recruiting the second Sullivan, with Democratic operatives also seeking other candidates who could siphon votes from the Republican incumbent.

The second "decoy" Sullivan, reportedly a longtime registered nonpartisan, lives in the remote community of Petersburg.

Sullivan told Fox News that the scheme is what arises when a "far left" candidate "has got nothing to run on."

Fox News Digital reached out to Murkowski for further comment.

While the post marked Murkowski’s first intervention on X in Alaska’s election contests, the Republican recently drew attention by endorsing Democratic gubernatorial nominee Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins over three Republicans: Bernadette Wilson, Treg Taylor and Dave Bronson.

Murkowski’s father, former Sen. Frank Murkowski, joined his daughter in that announcement.

The split Republican field positions Kreiss-Tomkins as the mathematical favorite, according to the Alaska Beacon.

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Murkowski was also a champion of the ranked-choice system that produced four-person general election ballots.

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Murkowski's pointed criticism of Peltola puts fresh scrutiny on the reported recruitment effort and what the Democrat's campaign knew as voters prepare to cast their ballots.

In the wake of a New York Times report detailing an alleged Democrat-linked election scheme that involved the recruitment of a candidate with nearly the exact same name as an incumbent GOP senator, Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy announced that he was ordering a probe into the matter.

"Today’s New York Times reporting reveals disturbing new evidence of an organized effort to manipulate Alaska’s elections by recruiting candidates — including one with the same name as an incumbent U.S. Senator — to deliberately confuse voters and misdirect their votes. The Alaska Division of Elections investigated these very concerns in June of this year. The new reporting substantially supports the Division’s findings," Dunleavy noted in a post on X.

MARY PELTOLA'S CAMPAIGN, DEMS BACKED COVERT SCHEME TO FIELD SPOILER CANDIDATES IN ALASKA SENATE RACE: REPORT

"I am therefore directing the Department of Public Safety to investigate whether this scheme violated Alaska’s laws and whether criminal charges or civil action are warranted. The evidence will determine what happens next," the GOP governor continued.

"Alaskans have a fundamental right to vote for the candidate they actually intend to support. Deliberately tricking voters into casting their ballots for someone else strikes at the integrity of our elections. Anyone or any organization found to have broken the law must be held accountable," he added.

SEN DAN SULLIVAN BRANDS PELTOLA'S ALLEGED BALLOT SCHEME A 'SCANDAL AT THE HIGHEST ORDER'

While incumbent Republican Sen. Dan S. Sullivan is one of the candidates on the ballot in Alaska's ranked-choice U.S. Senate voting contest, there is another candidate on the same ballot named Daniel J. Sullivan, Jr., a retired teacher who is listed without party affiliation.

According to the paper's article, titled "Inside Democrats’ Secret Effort to Stack Alaska’s Ballot," the Times found "that not only did Ms. Peltola’s team work with people trying to recruit Mr. Sullivan to run for Senate, but the effort was much broader. The group worked to coax other would-be spoilers into the race, to dilute the incumbent’s support and help catapult the Democrat to victory."

On Oct. 22, the DOJ filed a federal lawsuit seeking to delay certification if Sen. Dan S. Sullivan loses and votes cast for Daniel J. Sullivan could have changed the result, pending an investigation into whether voters mistakenly selected the wrong candidate.

In an interview with Sean Hannity on Wednesday night, Sen. Dan Sullivan said, "This is what happens when you have a candidate like Peltola, far left, who's got nothing to run on. I have a much stronger record we're running. We have a vision for Alaskans that the Alaskan people want, and when they recognize that, they're like, ‘shoot, I guess we got to cheat.’

"What's remarkable here is that even today, she has not apologized. Even today, she's kind of playing as if nothing happened," Sen. Sullivan added. 

"The Alaskans for Mary campaign has no involvement with either Sullivan campaign and did not recruit any candidates into the race," the Peltola campaign asserted in a statement to the Times.

MURKOWSKI SNUBS TRUMP-BACKED ALASKA CANDIDATE, ENDORSES DEMOCRAT FOR GOVERNOR

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Peltola's campaign did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's comment request on Thursday.