Democrats got caught running a fake Republican to steal a Senate seat.
Sunday night, the only judge standing in their way made her choice.
What she just did to Trump's lawsuit will make conservatives furious.
Gleason Says She Cannot Give Trump's DOJ What It Wants
Sen. Dan Sullivan almost lost his seat to a ghost with his own name.
Alaska voters open their ballots Tuesday to find two men named Dan Sullivan running for the same job.
One is the sitting Republican senator Trump endorsed in Wasilla.
The other is Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., a man Democrats allegedly recruited for one reason.
Confuse enough Republicans that some of their votes vanish into Alaska's ranked-choice sinkhole.
The New York Times reported that people connected to Mary Peltola's campaign helped get the decoy on the ballot.
Peltola says she knew nothing about it.
"I knew nothing about any other candidate on the ballot except for me and the incumbent," she claimed.
Trump's Justice Department didn't buy it.
DOJ sued to delay certifying the race if the decoy pulled enough votes to hand Peltola the seat.
On Sunday, two days before Alaskans vote, U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason killed the lawsuit.
Gleason is an Obama appointee.
She ruled that DOJ never explained how investigators could track which ballots the decoy spoiled without violating Alaska's secret ballot law.
"The United States provides no workable plan as to how it proposes to segregate ballots," she wrote.
DOJ is already appealing to the 9th Circuit.
DOJ spokeswoman Kiersten Pels said Alaskans "deserve a fair election, not to be misled in an attempt to rig outcomes."
Snead Says Alaska's Voting System Built the Trap Democrats Walked Into
This isn't the first time a party has planted a decoy with a target's name on the ballot.
In 1946, a Kennedy campaign operative recruited a janitor named Joe Russo to run against a popular local politician also named Joe Russo, hoping to split his vote and clear a path for John F. Kennedy.
In 2024, three different candidates named Bob Ferguson showed up on the same Washington governor's ballot.
That stunt only unraveled because Washington passed a law against duplicate candidate names.
Alaska just handed Democrats a system built for exactly this kind of sabotage.
Jason Snead of the Honest Elections Project says the state's top-four jungle primary and ranked-choice tabulation create "lots of different traps" for confused voters.
"If enough of them pick the wrong Dan Sullivan, then he makes it into the general," Snead said.
Pick the wrong one first and Peltola second, and your vote could transfer straight to her when the decoy gets eliminated.
Rank only the decoy, and ranked-choice tabulation tosses your ballot out completely.
Gov. Mike Dunleavy says the mess proves Alaska's election system has a hole Democrats can drive a truck through.
"We're compelled to do an investigation on behalf of the people of Alaska," Dunleavy said, promising to run it as long as necessary.
He says a normal party primary would have stopped this before it ever reached a general election ballot.
Trump Demands Prosecution While Murkowski Accuses Peltola of Lying
Trump isn't waiting for the appeals court.
"I think they should be prosecuted," he said of Peltola and the decoy candidate.
He posted that Peltola "should suffer the Legal and Political consequences for what she has done."
Sullivan went on Fox News and demanded Peltola answer for it directly.
"Look Mary Peltola in the eye and ask her, did you cheat?" Sullivan said.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who crossed party lines to endorse Sullivan, says she's seen enough.
"Alaskans deserve the honest truth from Mary and her campaign," Murkowski said, describing "a pattern of lies and coverups."
Peltola still hasn't named who on her team talked to the decoy, when, or why.
Here's what fires me up about this one.
Democrats spent years lecturing you about threats to democracy.
Then they allegedly ran a fake Republican to steal a Senate seat.
An Obama judge didn't clear them.
She said Trump's lawyers couldn't prove which ballots got poisoned without breaking ballot secrecy.
That's a technicality, not a vindication.
And it's exactly why this play keeps getting run.
A janitor in 1946, three Bob Fergusons in 2024, now Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. in 2026.
Courts can't unscramble a rigged ballot after the fact.
So the rigging works even when it gets caught red-handed.
Republicans want this to stop costing them Senate seats.
Alaska needs a law like Washington's that kills same-name candidacies before they ever make the ballot.
Until then, Democrats just learned this scheme can survive a federal lawsuit.
And you can bet they'll run it again.
Sources:
- Amanda Macias, "DOJ Set to Appeal Ruling in Alaska Senate Race Dispute Over 'Decoy Dan'," Fox News, November 1, 2026.
- Cristina Laila, "Obama Judge Tosses DOJ's Alaska Lawsuit Over Decoy Dan Sullivan," The Gateway Pundit, November 1, 2026.
- Daily Wire News, "Obama-Appointed Judge Rules Against Trump In Alaska 'Decoy Dan' Fight," Daily Wire, November 1, 2026.
- Fox News, "Court Keeps 'Decoy Dan' on Alaska Ballot as Expert Warns Ranked-Choice System Creates Voter 'Traps'," Fox News, October 29, 2026.
- Fox News, "Governor Probing 'Decoy Dan' Sullivan Election Scandal Warns System Flaw Hiding in Plain Sight," Fox News, October 29, 2026.
- Cato Institute, "Decoy Candidates and the Law," Cato.org, October 2026.
- Fox News, "Trump Calls for Alaska's Mary Peltola to Be Removed From Ballot, Prosecuted," Fox News, November 1, 2026.
