Trump Says ‘Fake Dan Sullivan’ Votes Should Go to Alaska Incumbent as Peltola Holds Narrow Lead

WASHINGTON, Nov. 5 (TodayViralUSA) — President Donald Trump called Thursday for Alaska election officials to hand votes cast for two other Senate candidates to Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan, arguing that would end the state’s still-uncalled race in the incumbent’s favor.

“The vote totals for the Fake Dan Sullivan, plus the other ‘slug’ that the Dems put on the Ballot, should be immediately given to the REAL Dan Sullivan, and the Election is over — He easily wins,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. “There is no other fair solution!”

A race decided by hundreds of votes

Democrat Mary Peltola, a former U.S. representative, led Sullivan by about 637 votes as of Thursday morning, with roughly three-quarters of the ballots counted, according to The Associated Press and tallies circulated with Trump’s post. Peltola had about 48.2% to Sullivan’s 47.9%.

Two other candidates on the four-way ballot held a combined 8,446 votes in that snapshot: Republican Gerald L. Heikes with about 4,846, and Daniel J. Sullivan — listed on the ballot as “Sullivan, Daniel J. Jr.” and repeatedly labeled a “fake” or “decoy” by Trump and other Republicans — with about 3,600. Together those totals were more than 13 times the gap between Peltola and the incumbent.

Alaska allows mail ballots from remote communities to arrive up to 15 days after Election Day, and the Division of Elections has said ranked-choice results will not be published until Nov. 18 if no candidate clears 50% on the first round.

Legal fights over the same-name candidate

The Justice Department sued before the election to delay certification, arguing the second Sullivan’s presence risked misleading voters who intended to support the senator. A federal judge dismissed that bid; the department has appealed. The Alaska Supreme Court earlier allowed Daniel J. Sullivan to remain on the primary ballot.

Peltola’s campaign has denied orchestrating the candidacy. The New York Times reported that senior advisers coordinated with people who helped recruit him and tried to draw others into the race, and that Democratic operative Jerid Kurtz is under federal investigation related to the effort.

Trump’s proposed remedy — transferring other candidates’ first-choice votes wholesale to the incumbent — would bypass Alaska’s ranked-choice rules and is not how the state’s Division of Elections tallies ballots. Under that system, the last-place candidate is eliminated and votes move to voters’ next ranked choices until someone wins a majority.