A former Alaska Republican lawmaker told Fox News Digital the FBI interviewed him after an apparent

A former Alaska Republican lawmaker told Fox News Digital the FBI interviewed him after an apparent Democratic political operative allegedly posed as a conservative recruiter and tried to persuade him to enter the state’s U.S. Senate race amid an intensifying congressional investigation into the controversial “Decoy Dan Sullivan” ballot scheme.

The allegations raise questions about potential federal criminal liability. Article III Project attorney Will Chamberlain argued that a coordinated effort to deceive voters about a candidate’s identity could violate 18 U.S.C. § 241, the federal conspiracy-against-rights statute. The revelations come after former campaign staff for Democratic Senate nominee Mary Peltola spoke to the New York Times about their knowledge of a reported scheme to stack Alaska’s four-person ballot with other “Dan Sullivans” to help siphon votes from incumbent GOP Sen. Dan Sullivan.

Allegations of a Ballot Scheme

The ballot ultimately included Peltola, incumbent Republican Sen. Dan S. Sullivan, Republican Gerald Heikes and retired Petersburg teacher Dan J. Sullivan. Whether the similarly named candidate diverted votes or affected the outcome remains unproven.

Alaska journalist details conversation with 'decoy Dan'

Chamberlain told Fox News Digital the alleged operation could constitute a federal felony if prosecutors establish that participants conspired to interfere with voters’ constitutional rights. The basic concept is you’re not allowed to conspire to injure or harm people’s constitutional rights. And one of those rights is to vote for the candidate of your choice, Chamberlain said. These people conspired to put a fake ‘Decoy Dan’ Sullivan on the ballot in order to trick people who were going into the ballot box intending to vote for the incumbent Senator Dan Sullivan, he alleged. There’s a lot of good precedent on this that suggests that’s a crime and a felony punishable up to 10 years in prison.

Recruiter's False Pretenses Approach

Meanwhile, former state Rep. David Eastman, a Republican from the Matanuska-Susitna Valley, told Fox News Digital by phone from Wasilla that he was approached by an operative under what he later surmised were false pretenses to recruit him into the race. Eastman said he also received several fake mailers suggesting Decoy Dan Sullivan was the real or only Sullivan in the race. The mailers, shared with Fox News Digital, are framed in a meet the candidates format and do omit Senator Sullivan.

A former Alaska Republican lawmaker told Fox News Digital the FBI interviewed him after an apparent — Photo: wfmd.com

Eastman told Fox News Digital he was approached in the Mat-Su by an operative he later identified in a blog post as Jerid Kurtz, who was named in the New York Times report. Eastman said the operative claimed to represent conservative donors and encouraged him to run for Senate. He pretended to represent conservative donors and was looking for conservative candidates to run for federal office; none of which was true, Eastman said. Eastman alleged that Kurtz used a false name and falsely claimed to represent conservative donors. He said, however, that Kurtz did not mention either Dan Sullivan or any plan to confuse voters during their meeting.

Scrutiny and Investigation

The controversy is drawing wider attention from federal authorities and Congress. Federal investigators are examining whether Democratic political operatives improperly recruited Dan J. Sullivan, the Decoy Dan candidate. Separately, the Wall Street Journal reported that Dan J. Sullivan had disappeared as investigators began visiting homes in his remote community.

A former Alaska Republican lawmaker says the FBI interviewed him after a Democratic operative allegedly posed as a conservative recruiter and tried to persuade him to enter the state's U. S. Senate race, amid an investigation into an alleged scheme to recruit candidates who could… pic.twitter.com/fcrXwfqBt0

— https://x.com/foxnewspolitics/status/2118456857715171418

Reporters sought comment from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Peltola’s campaign and Wingspan Strategies. Congressional documents identify Kurtz as a co-owner of the firm. Alaska’s governor has also ordered an investigation after the New York Times report on the alleged scheme.