SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
We start this hour in one of the smallest states by population, certainly the biggest in area, and a state home to one of the tightest races on the Senate map - one that could determine control of the Senate next year. With just days until Election Day, the U.S. Senate race in Alaska has been rocked by a New York Times report that Democratic operatives recruited a spoiler candidate to run. Now, this is reporting that NPR has not independently verified, but it has been added to a lawsuit that had previously been filed by the Department of Justice. They are suing to block certification of the election if the incumbent, Republican Senator Dan Sullivan, narrowly loses. We're going to get more on this from Liz Ruskin of Alaska Public Media, who joins us from Anchorage.
Hey, Liz.
LIZ RUSKIN, BYLINE: Hello.
DETROW: So where do things stand right now?
RUSKIN: We're expecting a federal judge in Anchorage to rule on motions to dismiss the DOJ lawsuit as soon as Saturday. The state division of elections is one of the parties asking the judge to toss the suit. And Governor Mike Dunleavy ordered a different state agency to investigate whether the spoiler recruitment operation described in the Times story broke any laws. Several legal experts I interviewed said they didn't know of any legal violations based on what they read in the Times. In Alaska law, they tell me, a candidate's motives just don't matter. One law professor told me the DOJ case is really a press release dressed up as a lawsuit, and he didn't expect it to have any legal legs. The Justice Department has also launched a parallel criminal investigation but hasn't said what potential crimes it's looking at.
DETROW: We've seen this all over cable news. We have heard a lot of President Trump's views on this. I'm curious what Alaskans are saying about these developments.
RUSKIN: A lot of Peltola supporters tell us they don't like these kind of shenanigans that the Times described, that it's ugly politics, but that they are still voting for her. Some are saying this huge Republican response is hypocritical. Amber McClelland, a Democrat in Anchorage, says recruiting a candidate just to draw votes away from an opponent should not be a thing.
AMBER MCCLELLAND: It's kind of messed up, but in the past, Republicans have done everything that they can do to win, including cheat.
RUSKIN: If by cheating, she means Republicans have promoted spoilers, then yes, they have, and they are this year in Alaska.
DETROW: Really? Tell me more about that.
RUSKIN: A Republican-aligned group spent significant money this year to try to get a Green Party candidate from Arizona on Alaska's U.S. Senate ballot. He didn't survive the state's top four primary. Two years ago, the Republican Party went to court to defend the right of a federal prison inmate named Eric Hafner to run against Peltola for U.S. House as a Democrat even though Hafner would not have been able to hold office because he's serving a long prison sentence in New York.
And then this year, a Republican-affiliated super PAC tried to get Hafner's mother on Alaska's Senate ballot as a Democratic spoiler, but she lost in the primary, too. So a lot of Alaskans who support Peltola are recalling these episodes. One Republican National Committee spokesman told me, though, that this is no ordinary spoiler because he has the same name as the incumbent, Republican Senator Dan Sullivan. So they say the goal was to confuse voters.
DETROW: This was already a close race, close enough that President Trump flew out to Alaska to campaign for Sullivan. Now you have this storyline. How has this affected the dynamics of the campaigns of the final days?
RUSKIN: Well, Peltola is trying to keep the focus on affordability, but she has had to address the allegations. Just last night, she gave a speech at a bar in Juneau, Alaska's capital.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
MARY PELTOLA: 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.
RUSKIN: She's still campaigning this weekend, so we may hear more from her. And meanwhile, Senator Sullivan said on Fox News that Peltola is lying and cheating.
DETROW: That's Alaska Public Media's Liz Ruskin in Anchorage. Thanks so much.
RUSKIN: Thank you, Scott. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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