‘Of course, he’s a decoy’: Jake and Spike split over alleged Democratic plot to put second Dan Sullivan on Alaska ballot

KIRO hosts Jake Skorheim and Spike O’Neill agreed that Dan J. Sullivan’s run in Alaska’s U.S. Senate race was a setup. Their disagreement was over whether the Democrats behind it crossed a line Republicans haven’t.

“Of course, he’s a decoy,” Spike said on “The Jake and Spike Show” on KIRO Newsradio.

Dan J. Sullivan, a retired teacher from Petersburg, Alaska, shares a name with the Republican incumbent, Sen. Dan S. Sullivan. He is on the ballot alongside the senator and Democratic challenger Mary Peltola in a tight, ranked-choice race.

The New York Times reported that operatives aligned with Peltola secretly recruited other candidates to act as spoilers, including Dan J. Sullivan, according to Alaska Public Media.

Dan J. Sullivan has repeatedly said he entered the race on his own and had no contact with Peltola’s campaign, according to The Associated Press.

Peltola has denied any involvement, and Sen. Sullivan has accused her of “still lying” about her campaign’s role, The Associated Press reported.

‘So you agree now that he’s a decoy?’

Jake found it suspicious that Dan J. Sullivan left town in the final days of the race. He questioned whether someone who wanted to win the seat would do that. Nobody in Petersburg has seen Dan J. Sullivan for weeks, and The Associated Press has been unable to reach him since The New York Times article came out.

“So you agree now that he’s a decoy?” Jake asked.

After Spike confirmed that he does, Jake took a victory lap.

“Thank you. Said that from day one,” Jake said.

Spike noted that being a decoy isn’t necessarily illegal under Alaska’s current laws. In June, the Alaska Division of Elections tried to remove Dan J. Sullivan from the primary ballot after finding he hadn’t filed as a Republican in “good faith.” State courts overturned that decision, according to The Associated Press.

The candidate is still under federal scrutiny. FBI agents have questioned his donors in Petersburg as part of a criminal investigation into allegations that Democratic campaigners tried to recruit candidates to run against the senator. The Trump administration is weighing criminal charges, The Associated Press reported.

A federal judge on Sunday dismissed a Justice Department lawsuit that sought to block certification of the race if Sen. Sullivan loses. The Justice Department quickly appealed.

Neighbors weigh in on Dan Sullivan race

Jake and Spike played audio of people identified as Dan J. Sullivan’s neighbors. They described him as a lifelong Democrat.

“He’s been a Democrat his entire life,” one neighbor said.

Another described seeing campaign signs at his home during past elections.

“He’s always been a Bernie Sanders or a Kamala Harris supporter, and so for him to call himself a Republican, you know, obviously more than questionable at that point,” the neighbor said.

Others in Petersburg see him differently. Charles Flint, a friend who donated to the campaign, told The Associated Press he was a “liberal thinker” who sometimes voted for Republicans. Amanda Ohmer, whose son had Dan J. Sullivan as a teacher, believed he was a well-known liberal.

“You don’t see a Republican at a No Kings protest,” Ohmer told The Associated Press.

One neighbor on the show’s audio suggested a title if Dan J. Sullivan ever sold his story.

“He could call it the Useful Idiot,” the neighbor said.

Jake criticized The New York Times’ earlier profile of Dan J. Sullivan. In his view, the media outlet couldn’t decide whether the candidacy was real. He wondered why no one had knocked on the neighbors’ doors sooner.

“Nobody thought to knock on these neighbors’ doors of this guy for some sort of a character, you know, assessment, which is the first thing I would do,” Jake said.

Spike: ‘Both sides have done this’

Spike agreed the scheme was dirty but argued it wasn’t unique. He pointed to a Green Party candidate who he believes was backed by Republican money in Alaska’s 2024 House race against Peltola.

According to The Associated Press, the Alaska Republican Party fought that year to keep a different spoiler on the ballot for Peltola’s House seat: an imprisoned felon with no ties to the state who was running as a Democrat.

“My point being, both sides have done this for years and years on cycles,” Spike said.

He also argued the effort insulted Alaska voters.

“I think it’s even more insidious because this was clearly a comical effort to confuse voters,” Spike said.

Jake countered that the Alaska plan went further than funding a third-party candidate. He described recruiting a candidate with the incumbent’s name as close to stealing an identity.

“This crosses a lot of lines. It’s a lot of time. Not just money, but almost a stolen identity situation,” Jake said.

He pressed Spike to choose which tactic was worse. Spike called both “cruddy ways to do politics” but ultimately picked the 2024 Green Party case.

“I think the Green Party candidate’s worse,” Spike said.

Jake was surprised by the answer.

“You don’t think that’s a little bit worse? That’s interesting,” Jake said.

Spike laughed it off.

“Well, you know me. I’m a man of loose moral values,” Spike said.

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to “The Jake and Spike Show” weekdays from noon to 3 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio 97.3