Wednesday’s PBS News Hour addressed the New York Times’ bombshell story about the crucial Alaska U.S. Senate race pitting Democrat Mary Peltola against two candidates named Dan Sullivan: Dan S. Sullivan, the incumbent Republican senator, and fraudulent candidate Dan J. Sullivan, handpicked by the Democratic Party to steal votes away from the Republican incumbent. But Wednesday's News Hour didn’t even bother with a full story on the scandal, relegating it to a portion of a discussion among partisan party strategists, Democrat Mo Elleithee and Republican Doug Heye.
Screenshot from Snapstream/PBSCo-anchor Amna Nawaz: Well, you mentioned Alaska, and I want to put to you another big headline today related to that Senate race, more reporting from The New York Times that Democrats actively recruited a spoiler candidate in Dan J. Sullivan to join the Senate race to boost the Democratic candidate, Mary Peltola. He, of course, has virtually the same name as the Republican incumbent Dan S. Sullivan.
Late today at Joint Base Andrews, President Trump called on Peltola to resign from the race. He also said this to reporters. Take a listen.
Donald Trump, President of the United States: It`s a fraud, and they said they didn`t do it, and they did do it and they got caught. And, in fact, it was the plot by the Democrat Party. And, frankly, they should be -- I think they should be prosecuted. To me, that`s voter fraud at the highest level.
Nawaz: Mo, how do you look at this? Is this unethical but legal? What happened here?
Mo Elleithee: It's boneheaded but legal. It's dumb but legal….
Heye said it gave Trump a "silver bullet."
Thursday’s News Hour follow-up on Alaska from Liz Landers was headlined with the “Republicans pounce” media trope: “Republicans seize on controversy in Alaska's closely watched Senate race.”
Before the Times broke the Peltola campaign’s deep involvement and dirty details of the phony Sullivan, PBS found the Alaska doings hilarious, treating it on the June 29 show not as a Democratic Party scandal, but as an amusing example of campaign shenanigans.
Note: Video is from the June 29, 2026 News Hour:
From June 29: PBS laughs off Senate "shenanigans" in Alaska. Geoff Bennett: "Are you following this race out of Alaska, the two Sullivans? This is my favorite political story....I would think Alaska voters would be able to discern between a Dan S. Sullivan and a Dan J. Sullivan." https://t.co/R90mKFsiCZ
— Clay Waters 🇮🇱 (@claywaters44) October 30, 2026
Co-anchor Geoff Bennett: And, Tam, are you following this race out of Alaska, the two Sullivans? This is my favorite political story. (LAUGHTER)
And I will set it up. I will set it up so folks know what we`re talking about. So this judge in Alaska has ruled that Democrat Dan J. Sullivan can appear on the ballot alongside incumbent Republican Senator Dan S. Sullivan. So we have seen ballot confusion before. I would posit, though, that this is probably less of an issue in Alaska, where Murkowski voters had to know not just who she was, they had to know how to spell her name and write it in on a ballot. So I would think that Alaska voters would be able to discern between a Dan S. Sullivan and a Dan J. Sullivan. How do you see this?
Tamara Keith, NPR: However, middle names are very different than Murkowski as a full name. And so it`s a top four primary, so it`s possible that both Dans Sullivan, I think that might be the plural, make it out of this primary. Certainly, I think you can get confusion when you`re trying to figure out well, what is the middle name of the guy who I voted for before? Also their logos are oddly similar as well. So it`s not clear exactly what`s happening here, but the word shenanigans does come to mind.
Amy Walter, Cook Political Report: Well, and the fact that the RNC filed a lawsuit tells you that, yes, they are concerned about voter confusion.
On August 17, it was fellow anchor Amna Nawaz’s time for an unworried examination of the Alaska scandal.
Co-anchor Amna Nawaz: Meanwhile, on the Republican side, Tam, I know you`re following this drama around the Dans Sullivan. This is a phrase I believe you coined here. Two Republicans, one is, of course, the incumbent Senator Dan Sullivan, both are on the ballot....
Keith again reduced the election to campaign "shenanigans": “….There`s actually been all kinds of interesting shenanigans in this race with outside super PACs….”
