House GOP launches Peltola probe as Vance stops short of backing Trump's prosecution call
House Oversight Committee chair James Comer is launching an investigation into the NYT's report that Peltola staffers recruited Dan J. Sullivan to run for Senate in Alaska. He's seeking testimony from Peltola's former campaign manager and Democratic operative Jerid Kurtz: https://t.co/bbbOgemoKJ
— Andrew Solender (@AndrewSolender) October 29, 2026
WASHINGTON, DC: House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky) launched an investigation on Thursday, October 29, into allegations that Democrat Mary Peltola’s campaign tried an unethical strategy to take votes away from Sen Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) in the Senate race.
The case stems from a New York Times investigative report claiming that Alaska Sen nominee Mary Peltola's operatives secretly recruited a "spoiler" candidate with a similar name to incumbent GOP Senator Dan Sullivan to dilute the GOP vote.
Vice President JD Vance, meanwhile, dodged a question about whether he agreed to President Donald Trump’s calls to prosecute Peltola.
House Oversight targets alleged second Dan Sullivan plot
Although Democrats have denied any such activity and involvement, Comer argued in a statement that “Democrats are the party of fraud. Knowing they can’t win on the issues, Democrats schemed to rig the US Senate election in Alaska by deliberately confusing voters. This is part of a broader pattern of misconduct by today’s Democratic Party.”
“Americans deserve answers about this latest attempt by Democrats to defraud the American people, and we will get them,” he added.
Comer sent letters to Elisa Rios, Peltola’s former campaign manager, and Jerid Kurtz, a Democratic operative who the NY Times reported was also involved in the alleged scheme, asking them to appear for in-person interviews.
He asked Rios to testify on November 5 and Kurtz on November 6.
Comer called the alleged scheme “dirty politics” and a “crime” during an interview with NewsNation’s 'Morning in America' on Thursday.
JD Vance stops short of calling for prosecution
Vice President JD Vance was asked about whether he also wants the probe to take place.
“Well, I think we should certainly look into whether she committed election fraud,” Vance told reporters at Joint Base Andrews en route to a campaign rally in Texas, The Hill reported.
Vance added, “I mean, she is a person who, for months now, has pretended that she has had nothing to do with the fact that they have put a fraudulent person, a person explicitly designed to confuse Alaska voters on the ballot.”
“Whether it’s criminal or not, she certainly has committed, I think, a great moral failing, and hopefully the voters of Alaska punish her,” he continued.
Trump said on Wednesday that Peltola should be “criminally prosecuted” for her campaign’s alleged role in recruiting Daniel J Sullivan.
