Justice Department Issues New Subpoenas in Criminal Probe of Alaska's 'Dan Sullivan' Ballot Mystery

The Justice Department has begun a new wave of subpoenas in a criminal investigation into Alaska's Senate race, escalating a fight over a second candidate named Dan Sullivan just days before the Nov. 3 midterms. The probe centers on alleged efforts by Democrats to recruit a candidate named Daniel J. Sullivan, who shares a name with Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan, to appear on the ballot. No one involved has been charged.

At a briefing on Thursday, a DOJ official cited a "significant increase in activity" over the previous 24 hours. The official said a New York Times report published Wednesday, which detailed internal emails and text messages, could help investigators because such communications are usually hard to obtain without warrants or voluntary cooperation. The subpoenas target several Democratic officials believed to be connected to the recruitment effort. Possible next steps include preservation requests to technology companies, search warrants and grand jury subpoenas, the official said.

The official named two federal statutes as possible bases for prosecution: 18 U.S.C. Section 241, which covers conspiracies to interfere with federally protected rights, including voting, and Section 242, which covers the willful deprivation of rights under color of law. The official also pointed to the case of Douglass Mackey, whose 2016 conspiracy conviction over election-related memes was overturned by a federal appeals court in 2025.

Asked whether any voter had actually picked the wrong Dan Sullivan, the official said the department was not aware of any confirmed case. "I think I've not heard of that, but it's hard to tell exactly," the official said. Daniel J. Sullivan is a retired teacher whose candidacy state officials had challenged, but Alaska's Supreme Court approved it. He has said in the past that he is genuinely interested in running.

The criminal probe runs alongside a civil suit the Trump administration filed last week seeking to stop Alaska from certifying Senate results if the Republican incumbent loses. The DOJ amended that complaint on Thursday to add the Times reporting and a second claim under the Supremacy Clause. The filing describes the situation as a "conspiracy to undermine the integrity of the electoral process" and argues that Daniel J. Sullivan's candidacy violates the National Voter Registration Act. It says the Times reporting "aligns with what the United States has been alleging on information and belief." Alaska officials had already asked a federal judge to dismiss the suit, arguing that election administration is a state responsibility.

Before the amendment, an official had described the suit as largely a preservation effort. "I don't see this as much more than a preservation suit," the official said, arguing that once ballots are separated from their envelopes, proving individual voter confusion becomes much harder. The department also wants discovery on what the campaign of Democrat Mary Peltola knew about the recruitment effort, and when.

Peltola's campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee deny any connection to the effort. Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy has directed Alaska's Department of Public Safety to investigate whether the recruitment violated state law. President Trump has called for Peltola and Daniel J. Sullivan to be removed from the ballot, and when asked about the lawsuit he said, "Well, I'm the one that said, 'Do it.'" CBS News reached out to the DOJ, the Peltola campaign and the DSCC for comment.