Alaska Senate race controversy: The 'shenanigans' over Dan Sullivan

This is Get Out the Vote rallies, this time in South Carolina. And in Alaska, a key U.S. Senate battle and race is getting national attention. The New York Times reports organizers connected to Democrat Mary Peltola were behind an effort to confuse voters by recruiting a second Dan Sullivan to run against Republican incumbent Senator Dan Sullivan. This is voter fraud at the highest level. They've been lying for almost a year about it, and now they're caught. This is just another distraction. It's another diversion. And Democrat Mary Peltola denied any involvement. Well, to talk more about all of this, which we're talking about, we're joined by David McKeown, political science professor at Sonoma State. Hey, David, good morning. Good morning and happy Friday, Dave. Yeah, here we are again. Hey, what does the name Dan Sullivan mean to you, Dave? Well, look, I mean, we do see what looks like some shenanigans related to the ballot here and getting this unknown Dan Sullivan onto the ballot. Alaska has ranked choice voting, so it's going to go through a couple of rounds here. And this race has been one that has been close. It's been one that Democrats have been pushing against. Mary Patola has had a lead of about three, three and a half points since September. She needs to go into the weekend being about 3.5, 4 points, a little bit higher in the polls to have a good shot to swing that seat for Democrats. However, if you think about Alaska and its politics, it's a red state. It's been a state that libertarians have done pretty well in. It's been a state, obviously, that gave us Sarah Palin onto the national political scene. It is a red state, but it gives you an idea of how Democrats have expanded the prior to the story you talked in the lead in, you talked about early vote, what's happening with the early vote. Early vote is the most diverse and the highest that we've seen, even higher than 2022. And it's challenging 2024 numbers. A lot of that has to do with the people being upset about gas prices, diesel prices, these types of things. And gas prices are at record highs in Alaska. So it could mediate that race a little bit as we head into the weekend and look at next week's midterm election. Do you think there's a possibility that either one or the other, Dan Sullivan, could be kicked off the ballot? Or what could help calm down this controversy? Yeah, I mean, the Alaska Supreme Court has already ruled that both Dan Sullivans can be on the ballot. Obviously, the incumbent would be there. But the other Dan Sullivan from Petersburg, Alaska, is allowed to stay on the ballot. So it's settled in terms of what's going on. However, there could be a subsequent investigation that's what the governor's called for the elections board it could lead to some elements of extended rounds of voting under that rank choice voting system and it could lead to the elections board of Alaska intervening at some point depending what happens on the RCV on the rank choice voting it's something to watch uh because there are uh you know it's a close match for the senate Democrats look like they're going to flip the House and look like they're going to flip the House pretty easily. What happens, however, on the Senate side, that's where a lot of key elements of pushing back on the Trump administration for Democrats, they want to flip both. And right now, their odds are about 60 percent to flip the Senate, whereas in the House, it's over 90 percent. Again, this Alaska race being key if Democrats want to flip the Senate. Yeah, this is a bare knuckle fight, too. Absolutely. Good explanation, David. David McKeown, our political science professor at Sonoma State. always good to see you here on Mornings on 2. Go Valkyries, Dave. You got it, Dave. Go Valks. All right. All right. A federal judge denied the Trump administration's request to segregate ballots in California. The Justice Department sued to stop the state from counting 20,000 ballots it alleges are from suspected non-citizens. But the judge says doing so would, quote, wreak havoc on the midterm elections, which are less than a week away. California state leaders say the federal government never explained how it obtained the voter file, which could be filled with errors. More than 4 million people have already voted in California.